| Today is Monday. There have now been 2,793 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. The death toll has held steady at 100 since Tuesday, the longest stretch without any new deaths since the first was reported on March 27. So far, 314 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 five on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC. Meanwhile, 2,173 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 520 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. Thats up from 505 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. — “New data on crossings from Canada into the United States through Aroostook County state plainly what County residents already know — the COVID-19 pandemic has all but severed connections between the region and its Canadian neighbors that each has taken for granted for decades. Many have families and friends on the other side of a border that had looked increasingly invisible, especially after trade restrictions were lifted in the 1990s. Yet, as both countries continue to fight the COVID-19 pandemic — with no end in sight for the restrictions — The County-New Brunswick border is looking firmer than ever.” — David Marino Jr., The Presque Isle-Star Herald — “Much of the typical pomp and circumstance of a high school graduation was on display Sunday at Bangor High School, with students wearing gaps and gowns, and balloons and streamers fluttering in the breeze. But the ceremony itself was far from typical. It was the school’s first drive-thru graduation ceremony — a new type of event in which graduating seniors line up in cars and hop out one at a time to get their diplomas from school officials. Many Maine high schools have adopted such ceremonies this year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and a ban by Gov. Janet Mills on gatherings of more than 50 people.” — Bill Trotter, BDN — “About two weeks into Penobscot County restaurants being allowed to reopen for dine-in service after a nearly three-month closure due to the pandemic, many restaurateurs find themselves surprised by the positive response from customers as they adapt to a new normal.” — Emily Burnham, BDN — “Fraud related to the coronavirus pandemic has run rampant in Maine and across the globe as scammers take advantage of the fear and confusion surrounding the virus. New data from the Federal Trade Commission show that Mainers have reported 647 cases of COVID fraud so far this year, adding up to roughly $140,000 in losses.” — Lynne Fort, BDN “The local library likely will have to reduce its staff or its operating hours — or perhaps both — after the city council decided last week to cut Ellsworth’s annual support by more than 22 percent. The Ellsworth City Council on Thursday decided to cut the city’s direct share of the library’s annual budget from nearly $600,000 to approximately $460,000, a move that the library director says will result in cutbacks in services.” — Bill Trotter, BDN — “There was no uniformity when it came to stipends paid to sports coaches by Maine high schools this spring. … Coaches in some districts received their full stipends, others were paid part of their promised extra pay and others didn’t get a cent.” — Larry Mahoney, BDN — Sandy Pardee, 65, is both a Mainer and newly minted Canadian citizen. Pardee is watching coronavirus and anti-racism protests unfold here as an insider as well as an outsider. It’s a unique perspective. You can read Troy R. Bennett’s interview with Pardee here. — As of early Monday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 2,094,069 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 115,732 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. — Elsewhere in New England, there have been 7,624 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,201 in Connecticut, 833 in Rhode Island, 320 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.
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