PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — About one sixth of Maine’s 275 positive cases of the coronavirus have been health care workers, the head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.
Maine CDC director Nirav Shah said the state is investigating the workers’ exposures at different health care facilities around the state. Health care workers are at elevated risk for the virus and have been infected by it throughout the country.
Maine’s health care workers, and health care facility workers such as custodians and environmental care workers, are keeping the state’s health system functioning at great personal risk, Shah said.
“As thousands of people are staying home, health care workers are doing the exact opposite. They are racing to care for those who are ill and who are in need,” he said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
Three Maine people have died from the virus. The state hasn’t identified them beyond stating their ages and county of residence.
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NURSING HOME RESTRICTIONS
Shah also said managers of congregate settings, such as nursing homes and shelters, should consider restricting or disallowing visitation. The virus can spread quickly in those kinds of facilities, and many of the residents are particularly at risk, he said.
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GUNS SQUABBLE
Maine House Republicans pushed back at an order from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to close gun shops along with other public-facing businesses deemed nonessential. The GOP said the state should take its lead from the federal government, which has deemed the gun industry “critical infrastructure.” The Republicans said it agreed with the feds that critical workers include those “supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors and shooting ranges.”
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UTILITY DONATES MASKS
Maine’s largest electric utility is donating 6,000 masks to the Maine Emergency Management Agency to be used to protect front-line medical workers from the coronavirus.
Central Maine Power’s parent company, Avangrid, rounded up 3,000 surgical masks and 3,000 N-95 respirator masks that were sent to the MEMA ofices Monday morning, CMP said.
“Given the growing shortage of masks and other protective gear faced by medical facilities across Maine, we have an opportunity and an obligation to help,” said David Flanagan, CMP’s executive chairman.
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