Four more Mainers have died as health officials on Saturday confirmed 56 more coronavirus cases have been detected in Maine.
There have now been 2,282 cases across all of Maine’s counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 2,226 on Friday.
Of those, 2,025 have been confirmed positive, while 257 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.
The latest deaths include a woman in her 90s from Cumberland County, a woman in her 50s from York County, a woman in her 60s from Cumberland County and a man in his 70s from Cumberland County.
This brings the statewide death toll to 89.
So far, 272 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 46 people are currently hospitalized, with 18 in critical care and 11 on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC.
Meanwhile, 1,505 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 688 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. That’s up from 683 on Friday.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.
—“After delaying the opening of dine-in service at restaurants in Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties earlier this week, Gov. Janet Mills is telling eateries they can sell their excess food to prisons to mitigate their lost revenue. Mills said Saturday that Maine Department of Corrections commissioner Randall Liberty has agreed to purchase excess food from restaurants in those three counties.” — Emily Burnham, BDN
—“A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The decision is expected to impact the appeal of an Orrington church pending before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston over Gov. Janet Mills’ order to limit large gatherings. Prior to this weekend, just 10 people were allowed to be in a church or business deemed non-essential. That number was raised to 50 beginning Friday for houses of worship and requires social distancing and extensive cleaning between services.” — The Associated Press and Judy Harrison, BDN
—“We understand that these times are uncertain and difficult and that businesses are under immense pressure to keep their doors open and to pay their employees. But, this is “a golden opportunity,” as Anne Ball, the program director of the Maine Downtown Center, told the Bangor Daily News. This is a time for communities and businesses to experiment and innovate, Ball said. And, at the same time, to make their downtowns more accessible to everyone, especially those who are walking or riding bikes.” — BDN Editorial Board
—“In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic and food insecurity, vegetable seedlings and other gardening inventories have become an endangered species. There’s been a run on all things garden-related since the beginning of the pandemic, spurred by fears of food shortages at the retail level in the wake of the coronavirus.” — Ernie Clark, BDN
—As of Saturday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 1,764,671 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 103,605 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
—Elsewhere in New England, there have been 6,768 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 3,912 in Connecticut, 711 in Rhode Island, 238 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.
Watch: The difference between a face mask and face covering
