May 2 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine

May 2 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine

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There have now been 1,152 confirmed coronavirus cases across all of Maine’s counties, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 1,123 on Friday.

The latest death involved a woman in her 80s from Waldo County.

[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]

So far, 181 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 36 people are currently hospitalized, with 19 in critical care and 10 on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC.

Meanwhile, another 689 people have fully recovered from the coronavirus, meaning there are 407 active cases in the state. That’s down from 411 on Friday.

Here’s the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.

——Do you have questions about the plan to reopen Maine’s economy? Ask us here.

— The Trump administration is refusing to disclose how it is distributing medical supplies for the coronavirus response that were brought to the U.S. at taxpayer expense through a White House initiative known as Project Air Bridge. The administration instead has allowed six multibillion-dollar medical supply companies that are receiving government aid to import the supplies to block public release of the data, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

— Maine says businesses must follow health protocols to reopen, but it may not be checking.

— Sales of hard liquor in Maine have shot up by more than 15 percent since measures aimed at preventing the spread of the new coronavirus began forcing many Mainers to stay at home.

—The process of contact tracing — interviewing a sick person to gain an understanding of how they became infected — will be more important than ever in the coming weeks, as the state embarks on a phased reopening process that began Friday. Case counts in the coming months and where they arise will play a direct role in how the reopening continues, public officials said this week.

—In an effort to help support the local economy during the global COVID-19 pandemic, a local church has organized a weekly bulk purchase from a local lobsterman. The program, now entering its fifth week at St. Francis by the Sea, is part of a broader movement among Mainers to support local businesses while measures aimed at preventing the spread of the disease have forced many retailers to shut down for several weeks, with many facing several more weeks of closure. The program also reflects efforts by local food and beverage producers to stay in business by delivering their product directly to customers.

— Hemphill Farms in Presque Isle gave away more than 20,000 pounds of potatoes Thursday to people across the area. The extra large Russet Burbank potatoes, averaging a pound each, would have been sold to the foodservice industry for products such as french fries, but the farm lost its market because of changes in the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Garrett Hemphill, co-owner of the farm.

— As of Saturday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 1,126,021 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 66,045 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

— Elsewhere in New England, there have been 3,846 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 2,339 in Connecticut, 296 in Rhode Island, 81 in New Hampshire and 51 in Vermont.

Watch: Nirav Shah on tracing the origins of coronavirus cases in Maine