| Today is Wednesday. There have now been 2,606 confirmed and likely cases of the new coronavirus in all of Maine’s counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A woman in her 90s from Cumberland County died from the coronavirus, bringing the statewide death toll to 100. So far, 302 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 29 people are currently hospitalized, with 10 in critical care and seven on ventilators. Meanwhile, 1,992 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 514 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. That’s a sharp decrease from 598 on Monday. Active cases of the virus have been trending down in recent days, falling from 714 on May 24, Maine CDC data show. Here’s a roundup of the latest news about the coronavirus and its impact in Maine. — The Maine CDC will provide an update on the coronavirus this afternoon. The BDN will livestream the briefing. — “The number of residents seeking help from Maine’s safety net programs has begun to drop off, although the end of a major federal stimulus program may cause a spike in need in the future, one expert says. Applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dropped in May by 30 and 40 percent, respectively.” — Caitlin Andrews, BDN — “Gov. Janet Mills announced Monday that Maine will ease restrictions on travelers entering the state, but the extent to which the new policy is able to salvage a tourism season devastated by the coronavirus pandemic depends in part on how other states ramp up testing.” — Jessica Piper, BDN — Given the ongoing changes, the Bangor Daily News asked you to provide questions about the reopening. We will continue to answer them on a rolling basis. If you have a question, you can ask it here. — “Forage Market, a bagel and coffee shop with locations in Lewiston and Portland, will close its operations for two weeks after the owner’s son tested positive for the coronavirus.” — Lori Valigra, BDN — “The Scarborough location of a company that manufactures tests that quickly identify whether someone has the coronavirus is now the site of a virus outbreak, according to Maine’s public health agency. Abbott Laboratories in Scarborough has seen 23 coronavirus cases among 679 employees since mid-April, with five detected since May 31.” — Caitlin Andrews, BDN — “It took a world war to cancel the Blue Hill Fair in 1943 and a worldwide pandemic to cancel it in 2020, but canceled it is. The fair’s board of directors voted 13-0 on Monday to postpone the five-day event scheduled over Labor Day weekend until next year.” — Nick Sambides Jr., BDN — “The Maine State Museum was scheduled to reopen to the public Wednesday after three months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. … The museum’s public hours are reduced to Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.” — The Associated Press — “Canada is slightly easing border restrictions enacted due to the coronavirus pandemic and will allow immediate family members of citizens or permanent residents to come to the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday. Trudeau stressed anyone entering the country will be required to quarantine for 14 days or face serious penalties.” — Rob Gillies, The Associated Press — As of early Wednesday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 1,979,971 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 112,006 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. — Elsewhere in New England, there have been 7,408 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,097 in Connecticut, 808 in Rhode Island, 294 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.
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