07/29/2021
Dr. Shah's words from today's briefing, July 28th, 2021:
"Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nirav Shah and I am the Director of the Maine CDC, and I am joined this afternoon by Commissioner Jean Lambrew, Commissioner of Maine's Department of Health and Human Services. Commissioner Lambrew and I are pleased to join you this afternoon, after a couple of weeks, to talk about where we are with respect to COVID-19 for the entire state of Maine for today, July 28th, 2021.
I'll begin by talking a little bit about where we are from a public health perspective; talking about some recent guidance from the US CDC, and then turning it over to Commissioner Lambrew for discussion on where we stand with issues on schools. And to begin, I have some sad news. Just in the last 24 hours Maine CDC has received a report of another individual who has passed away with COVID-19. He was a man in his 80s from Penobscot County, and his passing marks the 899th death associated with COVID-19 in Maine. We'd like to take a moment to offer his entire family, set of friends, and community our deepest condolences during this time of grief.
Right now across the state, there are 70,141 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That represents an increase of 65 cases since yesterday. Cumulatively, we've had 2,135 people be hospitalized, and right now, there are 41 people in the hospital with COVID-19; 16 of them are in the intensive care unit, and 9 of them are on a ventilator. Our positivity rate in Maine now stands at 1.5%, and our testing volume now stands are 221 PCR tests that are being conducted from every 100,000 people in the state.
Before I turn things over to Commissioner Lambrew, I'd like to take a moment to discuss yesterday's recommendations from the US CDC, which were updated to discuss when and where individuals should wear face coverings, even if they are fully vaccinated. Well, let's start by talking and asking about what has shifted. Having reviewed these guidance, we suggest that Maine people follow these recently updated US CDC recommendations on face coverings. I want to focus on two of those recommendations today. The first one is that people wear face coverings when in indoor public settings in areas with substantial or high levels of community transmission, regardless of their vaccination status. Right now, that would apply to vaccinated individuals in York and Piscataquis counties. The second recommendation is that all teachers, staff, students and visitors in K12 schools wear face coverings regardless of their vaccination status or their county of residence.
Now, what precipitated this shift in recommendation from the US CDC? In a word, the Delta variant. The Delta variant is different from other strains of the virus. Based on what we know today, the Delta variant is more wily, and more formidable. It's roughly twice as contagious as other strains of the COVID-19 virus, and it has become far more prominent in Maine, accounting for at least 47% of new cases, and likely even more than that. On top of all this, in rare situations, even people who are fully vaccinated can transmit COVID-19 to other people.
So why did the US CDC shift its recommendations? Well, it's that last point that explains this update- specifically, the risk that you could unknowingly, inadvertently spread the virus to someone, even though you yourself are fully vaccinated. That someone could be a child that's too young to be eligible for a vaccine, or an immunocompromised person for whom the vaccine may not be fully effective. This is a rare phenomenon, and the risk of this happening is thankfully low, but it is not zero. By masking up in indoor public settings in places where there's a lot of virus, even though you're vaccinated, you reduce that risk of accidentally, inadvertently transmitting the virus to vulnerable people around you-- a risk that, because of the Delta variant, we fear may be growing.
Now let's talk about what this means for you and specifically, what has changed and what hasn't changed. Let's start with what has not changed. The most important thing that has not changed is the role of vaccines in getting us out of this pandemic. Simply put, vaccines remain the best tool we have to keep ourselves safe. They continue to work, and they continue to work well. The 850,000 fully vaccinated Mainers have a very strong degree of protection against the variants, including Delta. Those 850,000 Mainers are overwhelmingly avoiding severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths.
In fact, the vaccines can help prevent the Delta variant from spreading even further. Most of the spread that's happening around the country is among unvaccinated individuals and in areas with low vaccination rates. Thankfully, Maine overall has quite robust vaccination rates. But the one thing that hasn't changed throughout all of this in the last few days is our need to have more people get vaccinated for us to be able to stay ahead of any changes with the virus. The bottom line is simple: vaccines are still protecting people against severe illness, but we're seeing an increase in the rate of breakthrough cases nationwide, and one of those breakthrough cases could affect somebody who hasn't been vaccinated. And that's why the US CDC recommended this change in guidance that we, too, are recommending.
Now, what does this mean for you? What has changed? Well, again to go back to what hasn't changed, for the bulk of Maine people, this shift doesn't change anything. If you want to get outside and enjoy the Maine summer, that hasn't changed. If you're not vaccinated, this hasn't changed, because we continue to recommend that if you're not vaccinated, first of all- you go get vaccinated, and second of all, you wear a mask in any and all indoor public settings, regardless of where you live and what the spread of the virus looks like. On top of that, if you live in 14 of Maine's 16 counties, the recommendation for whether to wear a mask in indoor public settings has not changed, though it could in the future.
For right now, this recommendation applies to only 2 of Maine's counties, York and Piscataquis. So what has changed is the recommendation for the 8,000 fully vaccinated individuals in Piscataquis county, and the 122,000 fully vaccinated individuals in York County. If you are one of those 130,000 people watching today, the best thing that you can do to continue keeping people safe is to throw on a mask when you are in an indoor public setting. Now, let me close by acknowledging a couple of things. The first is that this change in recommendations from the US CDC is, for many of us, and many of you, unexpected.
A year ago, we weren't even talking about variants, but now it seems that every single conversation we have is some form of noun, verb, and variant. This is a reminder that we're still in the pandemic. But it's also a reminder that this is science, and this is what science does: something new comes on the horizon, scientists study it, and our recommendations to keep you safe evolve as a result. That's what good science does, and that's what happening here.
The other thing that I think we should acknowledge is that Maine people, throughout the pandemic, when faced with the choice whether to do what's right and best for all of us, have consistently made that right choice. And that's why I'm hopeful that even vaccinated folks in Maine will continue making the right choice by wearing a mask if they are in those counties of substantial or higher transmission when they go out into a public indoor setting. Again, Maine people have always and consistently made the right choice to do what's best for all of us, and we think that they will continue to do so here.
And finally, the focus in the last 24 hours has been on masks, but we can't detach that focus from vaccines. Things like masks and vaccines are like so many other things in our lives that provide us safety and security- whether it's seat belts, or helmets, or umbrellas- they're all highly effective. None is absolute in their protection, and all of them require additional measures to ensure safety particularly when conditions worsen. That's what happening here with respect to masks. All that being said, vaccines remain essential to keeping us safe and slowing the spread of the virus. The best way to move beyond masking is for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated."
-Dr. Nirav Shah
Director, Maine CDC
