| Today is Monday. There have now been 2,570 confirmed and probable 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. Health officials said Sunday that a woman in her 80s from Cumberland County died from coronavirus complications, bringing the statewide death toll to 99. So far, 298 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 34 people are currently hospitalized, with 15 in critical care and seven on ventilators. Meanwhile, 1,864 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 607 active cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 581 on Saturday. 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. — “When Keighan Robichaud learned that the coronavirus had arrived in Maine in mid-March, posing a particular risk to the elderly, he worried what would happen to his two youngest children if his grandparents fell ill. Robichaud’s grandparents are caring for his 4-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, while he completes a three-year sentence at the Maine State Prison for selling drugs in Aroostook County. Robichaud, 24, is scheduled to be released in mid-June, but back in March he wondered if the state might consider releasing him early so he could be there for his children in case his grandparents got sick.” — Callie Ferguson, BDN — “Gov. Janet Mills’ pandemic orders and actions taken by Congress have protected Mainers from being evicted from rental property. That has kept people living in public housing, apartments and single-family houses from becoming homeless even if they can’t pay rent because of lost income. On the other hand, delays in court proceedings have made it almost impossible for landlords to evict problem tenants, according to the lawyers who regularly represent them.” — Judy Harrison, BDN — “While restaurants, shops and lodging establishments are already feeling the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, another sector of the tourism economy in Maine is bracing for a rocky summer. Normally, communities located along the famous Appalachian Trail welcome thousands of long-distance hikers every summer, offering shelter and supplies to those endeavoring to complete the famous 2,190-mile trail. But this year, everything has changed. Due to the pandemic, most hikers have postponed their treks, leaving trailside towns wondering how the decrease in business and absence of trail culture will impact their communities. Hostels, inns, shuttle services, gear shops, grocery stores and restaurants are all expected to take a hit.” — Aislinn Sarnacki, BDN — “After months of struggles due to the shutdown of the food service industry during the coronavirus pandemic, the Aroostook County potato industry is seeing increased sales as states begin to reopen their economies. Rather than going unsold, many more potatoes from the 2019 crop will end up on plates and trays across the country as restaurant-ready items such as french fries and mashed potatoes.” — David Marino Jr., The Presque Isle Star-Herald — “Even as the U.S. economy begins to flicker back to life, even as job cuts slow and some laid-off people are called back to work, the scope of the devastation left by the viral pandemic has grown distressingly clear to millions who’d hoped for a quick return to their jobs: They may not be going back anytime soon. … Forty-two percent of the layoffs caused by the pandemic could become permanent job losses, according to a study by the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics.” — Alexandra Olson and Mae Anderson, The Associated Press — “As New York City prepared to reopen after a more than two-month coronavirus shutdown, officials on Sunday lifted a curfew that was put in place amid protests of police brutality and racial injustice. But they also urged that demonstrators be tested for COVID-19. … [New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo] said the state planned to open 15 testing sites dedicated to protesters so they can get results quickly.” — Brian Mahoney and Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press — As of early Monday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 1,942,363 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 110,514 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. — Elsewhere in New England, there have been 7,316 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,071 in Connecticut, 772 in Rhode Island, 286 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.
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