PORTLAND, Maine — According to the Maine Center for Disease Control, there has been an uptick in deaths and hospitalizations related to the COVID-19 virus over the past month.
It's a trend happening across the U.S., with many states reporting a rise in the number of high-risk cases.
CDC data show three COVID-related deaths in Maine between June 2 and June 29. But those numbers have increased in the past four weeks. Maine CDC's weekly report shows eight COVID-related deaths between June 30 and July 27.
"The COVID virus—we often feel like we're done with it. It's not done with us," family medicine physician Dr. Patrick Connolly said.
Connolly practices at Martin's Point Healthcare. He said he's hearing from patients who have COVID daily, and he has written his fair share of prescriptions for medicine that treats COVID symptoms.
"The vast majority of people who have COVID aren't all that sick," Connolly said.
Connolly pointed out that people who have recently received the COVID vaccine often have an easier time fighting off the virus, but vaccines wear off over time.
"If it's been several months or more since your last vaccine or since you've last had COVID, then your immunity, your ability to fight an infection from hitting is significantly reduced," he said.
Maine Health's chief health improvement officer Dr. Dora Anne Mills said COVID mutates faster than the flu. She explained that unlike the flu, which is seasonal, health professionals see new strands of COVID all year round.
For those at high risk for COVID, you probably are going to need to get a COVID vaccine about every six months.
People who become really sick end up checking in to the hospital. Mills said since the uptick, there have been between 20 to 40 people hospitalized for COVID every day in Maine.
She emphasized that those numbers are much lower than hospitals in the state saw at the height of COVID.
"At the height of COVID, hospitalizations in Maine about early 2022, we had about 500 people hospitalized," Mills said.
Mills said medical professionals have the tools to keep this increase in COVID-related deaths and hospitalizations under control, but she also stressed that everyone has a role to play.
She said everyone needs do their part to keep themselves and their families safe.
"We have to put that in perspective but also keep in mind that these are not just numbers," Mills said. "These are also people who have loved ones, and it's always sad when we see somebody hospitalized."
Mills said doing your part to keep others healthy means staying home when you're sick until you've gone 24 hours without a fever, washing your hands, and wearing a mask when you're not well.