LincolnHealth reported 38 cases out of 551 tests for the week of Oct. 4. Testing numbers remained the same as the week before, but with seven fewer cases, dropping the positivity rate from 8.17% to 6.9%. There were 10 cases among those 18 and under, about 26%, which along with overall positive case numbers have decreased over the past three weeks.

Breakthrough cases, those who test positive for the virus after full vaccination, rose to an all-time high of 37%. LincolnHealth Director of Communications John Martins said this increase is partly due to Lincoln County’s exceptional vaccination rate of nearly 72%. This means as the vaccination rate goes up, there are less people who are unvaccinated to be impacted by the Delta variant, he said.

Martins said LincolnHealth continues to plan for the arrival of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster vaccines and how they will be delivered to patients. Those seeking the already available Pfizer booster should contact their primary care physicians for an appointment, said Martins.

The flu vaccination weekend clinics are still performing well, with the Miles Campus Watson Center clinic set to run from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 16, said Martins. On Oct. 23, Watson Center and Lincoln Medical Partners’ Wiscasset office will run clinics from 9 a.m. to noon.

“It is encouraging to see the interest in receiving the flu vaccine,” Martins said. “Lincoln County has often had low vaccination rates among its population and it appears we are heading in the right direction in turning that around, at least with the flu vaccine.”