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Delta variant drives Maine Covid inpatients into ICUs

The state of Maine’s official tally of confirmed delta variant Covid-19 cases has stood at 4 for weeks. But in just over a week, a new type of test being used by the state’s largest hospital network found 18 out of 49 patients had the variant, suggesting the virulent strain is much more prevalent than the statistics suggest.

It also might explain another worrying phenomenon that’s emerged over the past month. Almost all of those admitted to Maine hospitals with COVID-19 are winding up in intensive care, and many of them are younger than before. As I report in this week’s Maine Sunday Telegram, this is a major departure from earlier phases, when the proportion of inpatients in the ICU was more like a third. For details, please read the story.