The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported two more deaths among people with COVID-19 on Tuesday, as well as 16 new cases of the disease.
The total number of confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases in Maine stood at 3,838 on Tuesday, representing an increase of 16 after taking into account other adjustments to the daily case count since Monday. To date, at least 121 Mainers have died after contracting the coronavirus-caused COVID-19 disease.
A man rides a bicycle on Congress Street last week. Ben McCanna / Staff Photographer
The Maine CDC reported 398 active cases Tuesday after accounting for the 121 deaths and the 3,319 people who have recovered from the disease. That’s a decrease of 23 from Monday.
The additional deaths reported Tuesday are a 70-year-old woman from Lincoln County and a 70-year-old man from Androscoggin County, the agency said.
Maine had the third lowest rate of COVID-19 infection in the country as of Monday after Hawaii and Vermont, according to the New York Times’ coronavirus tracking system. Maine had the second lowest infection rate in the nation in the past seven days, with just nine new cases per 100,000 residents.
According to the newspaper’s analysis, two states where infection rates are increasing, Florida and Louisiana, had 337 and 323 new cases for every 100,000 residents during that period.
Low rates in Maine have prompted some to turn to Governor Janet Mills’ administration to further relax the restrictions.
On Monday, Republican members of the Maine House and Senate asked Mills to add Massachusetts and Rhode Island to the list of states where residents are not required to receive a negative test or quarantine for 14 days before visiting Maine. These requirements do not currently apply to residents of New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut due to the low case rates in those states.
Mills responded by accusing Republicans of being more interested in raising money from Massachusetts residents than in Mainers’ life, calling the proposal “a Donald Trump-style attack on public health measures they have protected with success to the people of Maine. “
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, is expected to hold a briefing on the coronavirus situation in Maine at 2:00 pm.
This story will be updated.
“Previous
New York dies in Maine’s first deadly shark attack
Related stories
Invalid username / password.
Check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Use the following form to reset your password. When you have sent your account email, we will send you an email with a reset code.