MAINE, Maine — As COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations continue to trend upward in Maine, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention will return to weekly briefings on the status of the virus and vaccinations in the state.
In an update on its website, the Maine CDC said it would host a briefing every Wednesday at 2 p.m. beginning Wednesday, Sept. 8.
NEWS CENTER Maine will stream the weekly briefings live on our website, Facebook, YouTube, and mobile app.
"We had hoped not to have to do regularly scheduled briefings again but the recent increase in cases, particularly the delta variant, means it's appropriate to have Dr. Shah do a weekly briefing," Maine CDC spokesman Robert Long told NEWS CENTER Maine on Tuesday.
The Maine CDC held an emotional "final scheduled briefing" on June 30, 2021, which coincided with the end of Maine's state of civil emergency. However, since then, the delta variant of COVID-19 has surged in Maine.
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah tweeted Tuesday that there are now three times more people in the hospital, intensive care units, and on ventilators across the state of Maine than there were just a month ago.
NEWS CENTER Maine recently spoke with Shannon Calvert and Danielle Poulin, two nurses at Maine Medical Center who work in the intensive care unit and have been doing so for the entire length of the pandemic. Calvert is 49 years old and has been working at MMC for 24 years -- four of them spent in the ICU. Poulin is 32 years old and has been working in MMC's ICU for seven years.
"It's hard to explain what we see and what we're going through," Poulin said about the job. "People can't obviously come in and visit the COVID ICUs."
Both women said they're exhausted and frustrated by recent COVID-19 trends. The most recent data from MMC as of Thursday, Sept. 2, indicates 29 people were hospitalized at the facility with COVID-19. Fourteen of them were in the ICU. Hospital officials said they couldn't break down those numbers by vaccination status, but Calvert believes whether someone is vaccinated makes a difference in how well they can fight the virus.
"People that have the vaccine and then get COVID -- they don't get ICU sick," Calvert said. "They're not up on a ventilator."
On Aug. 26, leaders from Northern Light Health, MaineHealth, Central Maine Healthcare, and MaineGeneral Health held a press conference to discuss the strain hospitals are experiencing. They stressed the importance of taking the steps necessary to stay safe during this pandemic, including masking, getting vaccinated, physical distancing, and proper hand hygiene.
Hospitals in Maine are feeling the stress of finding enough beds for patients, not all of whom have COVID. But as more COVID patients need treatment, it becomes more difficult to find space for all patients, COVID or non-COVID.
“We have almost as many patients in ICU beds across the state of Maine currently as we did during our peak last January," Dr. Joan Boomsma, chief medical officer for MaineHealth, said. "But it’s not just our ICUs. Our hospital beds are full. I think it’s a combination of seasonal increases, along with the increased volumes of COVID patients and staffing shortages.”
NEWS CENTER Maine will stream the Maine CDC's weekly briefings live on our website, Facebook, YouTube, and mobile app.