On March 15, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance for collection, handling, and testing clinical specimens from persons for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
As of March 15, 2020, there are 7 confirmed and 5 presumptive positive COVID-19 cases in Maine. Community transmission is occurring in Cumberland County. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) expects to see community transmission in other areas of Maine, possibly in the coming days. Such transmission will likely mean large numbers of patients needing medical care at the same time, stressing health care providers, hospitals, and other health care facilities.
On Thursday, March 12, 2020, Maine's Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL) reported out the first presumptive positive COVID-19 test result on a Maine resident. Currently, all positive COVID-19 results from state public health laboratories are considered presumptive until they are confirmed at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC).
On March 10, 2020 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) released the following new or revised guidance in response to concerns around national and local shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies, particularly N95 respirators:
Other guidance issued includes
As of March 9, 2020, U.S. states have reported over 500 cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Widespread sustained transmission has also been reported in China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Community spread has been reported in several other countries, including parts of the U.S. (California, Oregon, Washington). Community spread in Washington state led to the first death in the U.S. from COVID-19, the first reported case of COVID-19 in a health care worker, and the first outbreak in a long-term care facility.
On Wednesday, March 4, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) expanded the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing criteria to a wider group of symptomatic patients. A patient who is suspected of having COVID-19 must wear a surgical mask as soon as they are identified and be evaluated in a private room with the door closed, ideally an airborne infection isolation room if available. Health care personnel entering the room should use standard precautions, contact precautions, airborne precautions, and use eye protection (e.g., goggles or a face shield).
U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) updated the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) criteria for Patients Under Investigation (PUI) on Thursday, February 27, 2020. A person who meets the PUI criteria must wear a surgical mask as soon as they are identified and be evaluated in a private room with the door closed, ideally an airborne infection isolation room if available. Health care personnel entering the room should use standard precautions, contact precautions, airborne precautions, and use eye protection (e.g., goggles or a face shield).
Maine CDC received notification of an influenza-associated pediatric death on Tuesday, February 18, 2020. The child, a southern Maine resident under 5 years old, was unvaccinated and tested positive for influenza B. This is the first influenza-associated pediatric death in Maine during the 2019-20 influenza season.
Influenza activity in Maine remains elevated. Influenza vaccination is strongly encouraged, and vaccine is still widely available. Vaccination can reduce illness and prevent hospitalization and death.
In 2019, Maine saw a nearly five-fold increase in hepatitis A cases over the five-year average number of cases, increasing from 9 in 2018 to 45 in 2019. A quarter of the cases in 2019 had risk factors such as injection drug use or homelessness.
Maine CDC recommends that healthcare providers and facilities that provide services to at-risk populations obtain hepatitis A vaccine and offer vaccination to their clients to prevent further spread of hepatitis A.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (federal CDC) continues to closely monitor an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that was initially detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. This federal CDC Health Alert Network (HAN) Update provides a situational update and interim guidance to state and local health departments that supersedes guidance in federal CDC's HAN 426 distributed on January 17, 2020.
