AUGUSTA — Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah announced during his May 13 press briefing, in Augusta, the Maine CDC will be altering how it reports COVID-19 testing data. 

“At the recommendation of the United States CDC, the State of Maine will be soon — in fact, today — shifting our reporting from the number of individuals who have been tested to the number of tests that have been performed, Shah said. “That’s actually a number that is more consistent with a number that other states have been reporting.” 

The total of individuals tested for COVID-19 across the state totals 28,257, according to Shah. 

Cumulatively, the number of COVID-19 tests performed in the state total 33,035. 

“The bottom line is that as we see more and more outbreaks occurring and more people being tested serially during those outbreaks, we’ll then — as other states are — start shifting our reporting to the cumulative number of tests that have been performed rather than the number of individuals that have been tested,” he concluded. 

The shift allows the Maine CDC to better understand the state’s testing capacity to see how accessible COVID-19 testing is to individuals across the state.