A new coronavirus outbreak has been reported at Cape Memory Care in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, health officials said on Friday.
Dr. Nirav Shah, the head of Maine's Center for Disease Control, said there are 57 cases at the facility, which treats patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Forty-five are residents, along with 12 staff members.
As is the protocol when an outbreak is confirmed, Maine CDC supplied additional personal protective equipment and infection control guidance to the facility. Maine CDC is also working with the facility to support its staffing plan.
Shah announced two new coronavirus deaths Friday, bringing the total to 75. There are also 71 new confirmed cases, for a total of 1,948.
Gov. Janet Mills said Friday that she is ordering all U.S. and Maine flags flown at half-staff through Sunday in memory of the state's coronavirus victims, and again on Monday until noon in honor of Memorial Day.
"COVID-19 has taken the lives of seventy-five Maine people. They were parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors, and loved ones; they were members of our Maine family, and they are missed every day," Mills said. "Today, our state continues to do all we can to fight the ravages of this silent deadly virus, but let us also pause to remember those we have lost. I hope all Maine people will join me in not only offering our deepest sympathies to their families, friends, and communities, but also in recommitting ourselves to doing everything we can as individuals and as a state to save others."
She added that "2020 has been an extraordinarily difficult year to date for our state and our country. There is pain, there is illness, there is death, there is unemployment and unprecedented economic hardship. But on Memorial Day as well we remember how much else we have been through that we have survived and how we will survive and rise again."
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Mills said Thursday the state has received $52.7 million in federal money for its coronavirus response. Her office said in a statement that Maine “will use this funding to enhance its ability to prevent, detect, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Maine by expanding lab capacity and testing sites across Maine in the coming weeks and months.”
Her administration also recently released guidelines for the reopening of day camps and summer recreation programs. They include promoting hygiene practices and taking special precautions to protect members of high-risk groups.
The camps and programs can reopen starting June 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
