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Another 13 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in Maine, health officials said Friday.
There have now been 3,499 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 3,486 on Thursday.
Of those, 3,110 have been confirmed positive, while 389 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.
No new deaths were reported Friday, leaving the statewide death toll at 111. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
So far, 366 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 15 people are currently hospitalized, with seven in critical care and four on ventilators.
Meanwhile, 30 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 2,931. That means there are 457 active and likely cases in the state, down from 474 on Thursday.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.
—“An inmate at the York County Jail has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The Portland Press Herald reports that the person was arrested Wednesday and tested after being admitted into the Alfred facility. The test came back positive on Thursday. It’s the second positive coronavirus case to appear in Maine’s county jails since the start of the outbreak here in March. The other case was discovered in the Cumberland County Jail in Portland on June 29.” — Christopher Burns, BDN
—“This week Gov. Janet Mills issued an executive order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The goal is to boost enforcement of a previous statewide order to wear face coverings in public when physical distancing is difficult. The order requires businesses to enforce the face covering mandate, but it applies only to certain businesses in certain counties and cities. Some Mainers who work in health care say the patchwork approach does not go far enough.” — Patty Wight, Maine Public
—“Maine has made strides in its ability to test people for the coronavirus since the pandemic first arrived here in March, but state health officials still see a need to keep expanding that capacity so that new outbreaks of the infection can be quickly detected and contained.” — Charles Eichacker, BDN
—“For some Mainers who found themselves stuck at home, cleaning out attics, closets and more was a good way to pass time this spring. However, the same pandemic that was keeping them at home had also led thrift shops and relief agencies to temporarily shut their doors and stop accepting donated items. If you are one of those who now has piles of clothing, furniture, toys, dishes or other household items ready to be donated, you aren’t alone. But you can do something about it now.” — Julia Bayly, BDN
As of Friday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 3,163,505 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 133,885 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.