Maine residents will get a card along with COVID-19 shot

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine residents will be issued cards to simplify the process of getting vaccinated for coronavirus after they receive the first shot.

The state began a rollout of the vaccine this week and it is expected to take months. Hundreds of health care workers have been vaccinated so far.

The coronavirus vaccine that is becoming available is a two-shot series. People who receive the vaccine will receive a card that reminds them when they were vaccinated, as well as where and when they need to return for a second shot, Maine Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Nirvav Shah said Wednesday.

The vaccine is available only to frontline health care workers at the moment. Shah has said the vaccine will likely reach the broader population sometime around the late spring or earlier summer. It’ll be available to members of at-risk groups before then.

In other virus news in Maine:

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THE NUMBERS

The pace of infection in Maine grew further Thursday.

The latest average positivity rate in Maine is 5.02%. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for Maine, the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test specimens using data from The COVID Tracking Project.

The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Maine rose over the past two weeks from 2.3% on Dec. 2 to 5.02% on Dec. 16.

Public health authorities in Maine have reported more than 17,900 cases of the coronavirus in the state since the start of the pandemic. They’ve also reported 276 deaths from the virus.

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HOCKEY POSTPONED

The University of Maine’s men’s ice hockey program has been put on pause because of a case of the coronavirus, university officials said Thursday.

The team had been scheduled to play at UMass Lowell this weekend, but that will not happen, officials said. Student-athletes are in quarantine, they said. Coaches and staffers were not considered close contacts and have been cleared, officials said.

The women’s hockey team is scheduled to play in Providence on Friday and Saturday, and those games will continue as planned, officials said.

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FAUCI DEGREE

Bowdoin College announced Wednesday that it is awarding an honorary degree in 2021 to Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Fauci is the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has shepherded the country through the coronavirus pandemic.

Others set to receive honorary degrees from Bowdoin include Campaign Zero co-founder DeRay Mckesson and astronaut Jessica Meir. Civil rights activist William Harbour will receive a posthumous degree.