Jessica Dagneau, system manager of care management, shows a group of Maine National Guard members around a wing of Central Maine Medical Center on Thursday. The National Guard is at the hospital to help reduce staffing shortages. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

If the current COVID-19 trends hold in the tri-county region, residents of Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties are likely heading toward some of the harshest months of the pandemic yet.

More people per capita died from COVID-19 in November in Franklin County than anywhere else in the state. For every 10,000 residents of Franklin County, approximately four died from COVID, according to historical data from the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention.

Across Maine, which recorded 164 deaths last month, the death rate per capita was slightly more than one per 10,000.

November was also the deadliest month of the pandemic for Androscoggin and Franklin counties, in terms of the percentage of all deaths recorded.

Last month, 22 residents of Androscoggin County died due to COVID-19 and 11 residents of Franklin County died.

This past October was previously the deadliest month of the pandemic for Franklin County.

Only one other county in Maine saw a higher case rate per capita last month than the tri-county region. Aroostook County recorded the highest number of new cases per 10,000 residents in November for the entire state.

Franklin County was not far behind, however, which recorded approximately 202 new cases per 10,000 residents over the course of the month. Oxford and Androscoggin counties ranked third and fourth, respectively.

The case rate in these four counties was nearly double what it was statewide, indicating that those areas — which are among the least vaccinated in the entire state — are regional hotspots of the surging case and deaths rates in Maine.

The majority of these cases and deaths occurred before the Thanksgiving gatherings that are most likely behind the surging rates in Maine over the past few weeks. Only halfway through December, the rate of new cases per capita in Franklin County are nearly two-thirds of what it was for all of November.

What’s more, state health officials announced Friday afternoon that five cases of the omicron variant had been detected in Penobscot County.

Studies out of the United Kingdom suggest that the omicron variant is two to three times more contagious than the delta variant. The delta variant was already considered highly contagious, twice as transmissible than the original strain of the virus, according to the U.S. CDC.

In a tweet on Friday, Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said this finding was “not unexpected, given that 40 other states have already detected it. Nor was it welcome.”

It is not yet clear if omicron causes more severe disease than delta, or if the currently available vaccines provide additional protection against it. Since the variant was first detected in the U.S. on Dec. 1, there have been outbreaks of omicron among predominantly vaccinated groups, though it appears to cause only mild symptoms in fully vaccinated individuals.

“Based on what we know about the potential for ‘immune escape,’ it’s more important than ever to get a booster,” Shah tweeted Friday. “And based on what we know about its severity (perhaps equivalent to delta), it’s more important than ever to wear a mask indoor public settings.”

The surge in cases is creating immense pressure on Maine’s health care systems.

On Thursday, 17 members of the Maine National Guard arrived at Central Maine Medical Center to assist with staffing shortages and to open a swing-bed unit to ease the patient bottleneck.

“Our workforce is exhausted and they’ve been fighting this pandemic since the very beginning and as we all know, it’s only getting worse,” Central Maine Healthcare CEO Steve Littleson said.

While a federal rapid response medical team has been sent to Maine Medical Center in Portland, CMMC is still waiting to learn if its application has been approved.

Gov. Janet Mills submitted applications for the federal teams on behalf of Maine Med and CMMC earlier this month.