PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s largest city might continue conducting business remotely because of the surge in coronavirus cases in the state and elsewhere.
Portland officials said the City Council might issue an order declaring a “limited emergency” so it can continue conducting remote meetings and stay in line with state law. The city had been hoping to open up City Hall to more in-person services soon, but the return of COVID-19 has interrupted that plan, officials said.
“This order is primarily being presented to the Council because City Hall and other city buildings will remain closed to the general public at this time due to the rise in COVID cases and variants, and because of the poor ventilation and sizing of Council Chambers and available committee rooms,” city officials said in a statement.
Portland has provided limited city services in person throughout the pandemic. Those services include those related to elections, birth certificates and parking tickets, among others. Many services have been shifted to email, virtual meetings and by-appointment meetings.
The City Council was scheduled to make a decision about the order at an emergency meeting on Monday night. The meeting was scheduled to be held remotely.
In other pandemic news in Maine:
THE NUMBERS
New cases of the virus continued to rise in Maine after weeks of decline.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Maine has risen over the past two weeks from 36.57 new cases per day on July 17 to 79.71 new cases per day on July 31. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in Maine fell over the past two weeks, going from 2.86 deaths per day on July 17 to 0.43 deaths per day on July 31.
More than 60% of the state’s total population is fully vaccinated against coronavirus, but the rate has stayed around that level in recent weeks. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday that the state has been the site of more than 70,000 cases of the virus.
The agency also said the state has recorded its 900th death.
The state is recommending people wear masks indoors in counties the federal government has declared to be areas of high or substantial transmission. That included Somerset and Waldo counties on Monday.
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