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Another five Mainers have died from the new coronavirus in the single deadliest day of the outbreak in the state as health officials confirmed 30 more cases on Thursday.
There have now been 937 coronavirus cases confirmed in all of Maine’s counties, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah. That’s up from 907 on Wednesday.
The latest deaths were all men from Cumberland County: one in his 50s, two in their 70s and two in their 90s. All were veterans and residents at the Maine Veterans’ Homes in Scarborough.
The statewide death toll now stands at 44.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
So far, 150 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 42 people are currently hospitalized, with 18 in critical care and 11 on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC.
Meanwhile, another 485 people have fully recovered from it, meaning there are 408 active cases in the state. That’s down from 413 active cases on Wednesday.
The five most recent deaths at the Maine Veterans’ Homes in Scarborough marks 10 total deaths from COVID-19 at the facility, with an additional 30 confirmed cases in residents and 17 in staff members.
At the Augusta Center for Health and Rehabilitation, 47 residents and 28 staff members have tested positive, an increase of one new positive staff member since yesterday, Shah said. There have been three deaths at the facility.
At Tall Pines Retirement and Healthcare Community in Belfast, 31 residents and 11 staff members have tested positive, and 10 individuals have died.
Eight residents and 10 staffers have tested positive at Falmouth by the Sea; seven residents and four staff members have been confirmed to have COVID-19 at Cedars in Portland; and two residents and one staffer have tested positive at Edgewood.
Of the confirmed cases in Maine, 229 are among health care workers, Shah said.
A majority of the cases — 599 — have been in Mainers over age 50, while there have been 319 in those between ages 20 and 49, and 19 under age 20. Cases are almost evenly split between women and men, according to the Maine CDC.
Another 16,784 people have tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the Maine CDC.
Thursday’s update marked the single deadliest day so far during the outbreak in the state, which started six weeks ago. That comes as the Maine Department of Labor reported that new jobless claims declined for the second straight week, down to 11,561 for the week ending April 18. That’s down from 30,899 two weeks earlier, but still more than double the previous high — 5,634 — set in January 2009 during the Great Recession.
So far, the coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 414 cases have been confirmed and where the bulk of deaths from the virus — 23 — have been concentrated. It is one of four counties — the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 37, 49 and 190 cases, respectively — where “community transmission” has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.
There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been “satisfied” in other counties.
Other cases have been detected in Aroostook (3), Franklin (14), Hancock (8), Kennebec (100), Knox (13), Lincoln (12), Oxford (14), Piscataquis (1), Sagadahoc (17), Somerset (16), Waldo (47) and Washington (2) counties.
As of Thursday afternoon, the coronavirus has sickened 856,209 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 47,272 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Watch: Why the Maine CDC breaks down coronavirus cases by county, not town
