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128,220 Cumulative vaccinations in Maine (An increase of 7,484 from Wednesday)

97,033 First doses administered in Maine (An increase of 4,535 from Wednesday)

31,648 Second doses administered in Maine (An increase of 2,948 from Wednesday)

38,454 Total cases (An increase of 284 from Wednesday)

567 Deaths (An increase of 5 from Wednesday)

284 New daily cases (A decrease of 178 from Wednesday)

171 Currently in hospital (A decrease of 12 from Wednesday)

Another five Mainers have died as health officials on Thursday reported 284 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 6,496. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s down from 7,046 on Wednesday.

Thursday marked one of the lowest daily increases in new cases Maine has seen on a weekday since late last fall, and comes as virus transmission has steadily fallen both here and nationally over the past two weeks. It’s not yet clear what has caused new cases to plummet, but it could be a sign that the surge in virus transmission that occurred over the end-of-year holidays is passing.

Three Cumberland County residents, a Hancock County resident and a Kennebec County resident have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 567.

Thursday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 38,454, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 38,170 on Wednesday. READ MORE

Maine's independent pharmacies are playing a growing role in administering coronavirus vaccines to the residents of long-term care facilities, after a bumpy start to a Trump adminstration program that enlisted two large pharmacy chains — CVS and Walgreens — to do that same work across the country.

The goal of the partnership with CVS and Walgreens was to make vaccinations easy and efficient for those most vulnerable to the disease. But after it got off to a slow start in Maine, the state CDC even made the decision to divert doses from the two chains to local pharmacies so they could be administered more quickly.

When Portland's Shalom House, which operates group homes for people with mental illness, found out that CVS would be its partner to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to its clients and staff, clinical director Abby Spadone was thrilled. But her excitement quickly faded.

"It was a bit overwhelming and confusing," she says. "We ended up over a couple of days receiving multiple emails from CVS. I think I had 70, 71 emails from them." LISTEN TO THIS REPORT