MaineHealth's chief health improvement officer provided insight Sunday into the number of cases of the COVID-19 delta variant the health system has seen.
The delta variant, or B.1.617.2, which was first detected in the United States in March 2021 just months after it was initially identified in India in December 2020, is listed as a “variant of concern” on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website because the agency says it seems to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, which could potentially lead to more cases of COVID-19.
In a Facebook post, Dr. Dora Mills said MaineHealth's NorDx Lab has been using a new screening test for variants. Since July 1, 18 of 49 tests have screened positive for the delta variant, she said.
Mills also said four of those 49 tests came back positive for the variant first identified in the United Kingdom and two came back positive for the variant first identified in Brazil.
According to NEWS CENTER Maine's partners at the Portland Press Herald, the 49 samples were from screened patients with uncommon characteristics, like very sick young people or fully vaccinated people who found that they were infected.
These screening test results are preliminary and are pending validation by genetic sequencing through the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, which is a longer process with less urgency than diagnostic testing such as PCR testing.
According to Maine CDC spokesman Robert Long, five cases of the delta variant have been confirmed in Maine and five detected cases await confirmation via genome sequencing as of July 9. Long said Maine hospital labs submit samples for sequencing to the state lab once per week. Genome sequencing and analysis of those and other samples takes several days to complete, and the phylogenetic tree is remade once per week, according to Long.
Still, Long said in an email to NEWS CENTER Maine that the latest report very likely underrepresents the raw number of delta variant cases in Maine.
"Results from the tests that NorDx is doing for MaineHealth do not appear in our genome sequencing reports because those tests are looking for indicators, but they do not assess the full DNA fingerprint," Long said. "Our reporting reflects genome sequencing of the full DNA fingerprints for each sample. The reports we post include results from genome sequencing done at the state lab, by Jackson Labs, and other partners. The latest report very likely underrepresents the raw number of delta variant cases in Maine."
Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah maintains that vaccination is the best way for Mainer people to protect themselves from the delta variant and other forms of COVID-19.
“Maine CDC expects to see a greater impact of the delta variant in the state in the coming weeks. While Maine’s high vaccination rate limits routes of transmission, the Delta variant is opportunistic," Shah said. "Vaccination remains the best way for Maine people to protect themselves from the Delta variant and other forms of COVID-19, as our partners at Maine hospitals tell us that the majority of patients requiring treatment for severe COVID-19 symptoms are not fully vaccinated.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story below aired July 6, 2021.