There were 150 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths in Maine on Monday, continuing the low case counts that led state officials to ease some pandemic restrictions last week, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Presidents Day.

Sunday’s case count was 120 with two additional deaths and there were 164 new cases and four deaths reported Saturday.

Hospitalizations statewide had dropped to 94 marking the first time since Nov. 22 that the number was fewer than 100.

As of Monday, Maine’s seven-day average of new daily cases fell to 183.1, far below its peak of 625.3 on Jan. 14, but still several times higher than the low averages of the summer and early fall. Spurred by the recent drop in case numbers, state officials moved all Maine counties to the lowest-risk “green” status last week, meaning all schools are considered safe for in-person instruction, with some anti-infection precautions.

Maine’s cumulative COVID-19 cases rose to 42,677 on Monday. Of those cases, 34,003 have been confirmed by testing and 8,674 are considered probable cases.

Six hundred forty-nine people have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in Maine. The two deaths reported Sunday were 80-year-old women in Cumberland County.

On Monday, Maine had given 174,426 people the first dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 71,429 had received a second dose. That means 12.98 percent of Maine’s 1.3 million people had received their first dose.

York County, however, has been lagging in its distribution of vaccines. The state’s southernmost county has recorded the most cases per capita and about 20 percent of all cumulative cases since the pandemic began, but had given only 11 percent of vaccine doses administered as of Friday, according to Maine CDC statistics. Neighboring Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties have inoculated more than 14 percent of their residents, while York County has given vaccines to only about 9 percent.

The region has been an epicenter for viral spread in recent months, yet has only two vaccination clinics. Those are located at Southern Maine Health Care’s hospital in Biddeford and at York Hospital. Cumberland County has eight clinics. A mass vaccination clinic is expected to open in Sanford, in York County, at the end of this month. The clinic is slated to open in the former Marshalls store off Main Street.

County by county as of Monday, there had been 4,626 coronavirus cases in Androscoggin, 1,231 in Aroostook, 11,993  in Cumberland, 875 in Franklin, 855 in Hancock, 3,478 in Kennebec, 614 in Knox, 544 in Lincoln, 2,121 in Oxford, 3,689 in Penobscot, 241 in Piscataquis, 848 in Sagadahoc, 1,215 in Somerset, 567 in Waldo, 693 in Washington, and 9,082 in York.

By age, 15.2 percent of Maine COVID-19 patients during the pandemic have been under 20, while 18 percent were in their 20s, 14.4 percent were in their 30s, 13.1 percent were in their 40s, 15.3 percent were in their 50s, 11.7 percent were in their 60s, 6.7 percent were in their 70s, and 5.7 percent were 80 or older.

Of the 94 patients with COVID-19 in Maine hospitals on Monday, 25 were in intensive care and 10 were on ventilators. The state had 118 intensive care unit beds available of a total 388, and 245 ventilators available of 319. There were also 446 alternative ventilators. On Sunday, Maine had 101 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and 28 were in intensive care.

Around the world on Monday, there were more nearly 108.9 million known cases of COVID-19 and more than 2.6 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States had 27.6 million cases and 485,300 deaths.

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