by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Following a nationwide trend, new case counts Downeast declined last week, down to 126 from 170 the week prior, making last week the second-highest case count since the beginning of the pandemic. There are no new hospitalizations or deaths reported, leaving those totals at 51 and 20 respectively. 

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention still considers all of Maine to be in a state of high transmission, and advises universal indoor masking regardless of vaccination status.