PORTLAND — Maine has one of the highest rates of coronavirus vaccination in the country, but some of the rural counties in the state lag behind the more populated areas.
More than 52% of Maine’s population has received a final dose of the vaccine. Like other New England states, Maine has paced the nation in getting the shots to residents.
The pace in Maine has been buoyed by a 63% mark in Cumberland County, which is the most populated county in the state and the location of its largest city, Portland. Several rural counties, however, are still below 50%, according to data from the office of Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat.
Somerset County has the lowest rate in the state at about 41%, the governor’s office reported. Ten of Maine’s 16 counties are below 50%. Those counties include Washington, Franklin and Piscataquis, the three least populated counties in the state.
Public health officials in Maine have used a mobile vaccine unit to help get the vaccine to rural areas. The unit is set to provide vaccines in Calais, in Washington County, through Thursday at the Thomas Dicenzo Athletic Complex.
“Drop-in vaccinations are also available at this location,” the governor’s office said on its website.
THE NUMBERS
As vaccination rates in the state have climbed, the number of daily cases of coronavirus in the state has continued to fall.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Maine did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 242.29 new cases per day on May 16 to 101.29 new cases per day on May 30. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Maine did not increase over the past two weeks, going from 1.14 deaths per day on May 16 to 0.43 deaths per day on May 30.
The AP is using data collected by Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering to measure outbreak caseloads and deaths across the United States.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday that the state has been the site of 825 coronavirus deaths and more than 67,000 positive cases of the virus since the start of the pandemic.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.