The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported two deaths and 18 cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, for a total of four deaths over the Independence Day weekend.
Cumulative Maine cases over the course of the pandemic increased to 3,415. The tests confirmed a total of 3,028 cases and another 387 are considered probable cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
One hundred and nine people have died. Information on the two people reported killed Sunday was not immediately available by the CDC.
Subtracting the number of people who recovered (2,772) and died, there were 534 active cases on Saturday.
Many Independence Day events across the state were canceled out of fear of coronavirus transmission, but a modest crowd was still wandering around Portland’s Old Port on Saturday, many of them wearing masks. Companies limited the number of people who could enter or move entirely. The city has closed parts of the Old Port to cars.
Next week, Gov. Janet Mills is expected to issue an executive order requiring companies to enforce mask-wearing policies for customers.
Mills’ announcement last week also came with the news that visitors from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey will not have to kidnap themselves under a 14-day quarantine or provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test. Visitors to Massachusetts have yet to follow those restrictions for now.
The decrease in the number of tourists has been harsh for the state’s economy, but with a positive side. Mainers is discovering that places that are normally crowded with tourists in the summer months are now relatively easier to visit. Residents who used to avoid places like Bar Harbor and Ogunquit now say they are rediscovering these parts of the state.
As a slow and uncertain reopening unfolds, and the specter of a potential second wave of the pandemic looms, office environments are unlikely to return to their pre-March forms any time soon. For example, MEMIC, a workers’ compensation insurer focused on workplace safety, has only brought 20 percent of its 350 employees to its two Portland offices.
Human resources experts say that returning to office life will be a gradual process, ideally with some flexibility between companies and employees. Private companies can legally require their workers to come to the office, but experts say companies will reap what they sow in terms of employee relations.
The Maine state government has also been weighing the best way to resume community work. Approximately 9,000 state employees, or 85 percent of staff, excluding public safety workers, have been doing their jobs remotely since March.
County by county as of Sunday, there were 496 cases in Androscoggin, 24 in Aroostook, 1,805 in Cumberland, 40 in Franklin, 17 in Hancock, 145 in Kennebec, 25 in Knox and Lincoln, 42 in Oxford, 116 in Penobscot, four in Piscataquis , 34 in Sagadahoc, 30 in Somerset, 56 in Waldo, three in Washington and 550 in York.
By age, 8.3 percent of the patients were under 20 years old, while 15.4 percent were between 20 and 15 years old, 15.5 percent were between 30 and 40 years old, 16.6 percent were 50 years old, 11.7 percent were 60, 8.3 percent were 70 years old, and 8.8 percent were 80 years old.
Women are still the majority of cases, at just under 52 percent.
Maine hospitals had 25 patients with COVID-19, of whom nine were in intensive care and three with ventilators. The state had 150 intensive care beds available out of 394 in total, and 263 ventilators available from 318. Maine also had 444 alternative ventilators.
Worldwide on Sunday, there were 11.4 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 534,000 deaths. The United States had 2.9 million cases and more than 132,000 deaths.
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