Maine is the first state to see at least 30 percent of its eligible population receive a second COVID-19 booster shot, according to Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Maine once again lives up to our ‘Dirigo’ motto,” Shah tweeted Friday, noting that the state leads the nation in second booster shots with a rate of 30.5 percent of those eligible.

Adults 50 years and older, and people who are immunocompromised, may receive a second booster, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1/#Maine once again lives up to our "Dirigo" motto as the 1st state to reach 30% of the eligible population having received a 2nd #COVID19 #booster.

We also currently lead the nation in 2nd booster rates (30.5%). https://t.co/IqZaOAMmXw

— Nirav D. Shah (@nirav_uscdc) May 27, 2022

Of Maine’s 1.34 million population, 74.23 percent have been fully vaccinated, and 756,933 doses of booster shots had been administered as of Saturday, according to the Maine CDC. The tally of booster doses does not break down how many people have been boosted, or whether they got first or second booster shots.

Meanwhile Sunday, the Maine CDC reported 162 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus. Of those, 20 were in critical care units and three on ventilators. That’s an improvement from Saturday, when 166 people were in hospitals statewide with the virus.

The state reported 475 new cases of COVID-19 Saturday, compared to 510 new cases on Friday. The true number of infections is underreported because many people who take at-home tests do not report results.

Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said of those who are in indoor settings with large numbers of people without masks, “there is a good likelihood you will suffer a breakthrough infection,” The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

In Maine, with most counties now categorized by the U.S. CDC as being at medium or high risk of coronavirus transmission, “if you’re in a group of 25 people, it is likely that one of them is positive for COVID,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, the chief health improvement officer for MaineHealth and former head of the Maine CDC.

“If you’re fully boosted, relatively healthy and not elderly, even if you contract COVID, the chances are it will be mild, though it’s hard to know what your chances are of contracting long haul COVID,” Mills said Sunday in an email.

If someone wants to go to a movie or an indoor concert, Mills recommends being fully boosted, wearing a high-quality mask and sitting where the ventilation is better. She also recommends having a plan for how to access treatment if infected. The risk for severe COVID-19 illness goes up steadily from age 40 and over, and much more precipitously from age 65 and up, she said.

Personally, Mills said she would go to the movies with conditions.

“I feel fine to go to the movies, but while the COVID incidence is still high, I’m choosing show times that are less crowded, and I’m wearing a high-quality mask, sitting away from others, and of course making sure I’m up (on) my vaccinations,” Mills said.

Since the pandemic began, Maine has recorded 262,572 cases of the virus and 2,346 deaths. The state typically does not report additional deaths and cases on Sundays and Mondays.

The death toll reported on Friday was one higher than Saturday. The reason is the state lowered the death toll by one after the Maine CDC reviewed and validated information submitted to the agency, Robert Long of the Maine CDC said Sunday in an email. One death  previously reported as a COVID-related death did not meet the criteria to be classified as such, Long said.

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