The view from locked-down maine

100,000 unemployment claims filed. That’s the number of idled employees eligible for unemployment: 14% and climbing. The tens of thousands of self-employed, including fishermen, charter boat owners, loggers, owners of small businesses aren’t included in the toll.

As of today, 44 Deaths, total, are attributed to COVID.

In Maine, 150 people have been hospitalized at some point and there were 42 in the hospital as of Thursday, 18 in critical care and 11 on a ventilator.

Nursing homes have been hard hit both in the number of cases and in deaths, and the Scarborough veterans home is the latest example.

The state is still monitoring outbreaks at six long-term care facilities: the Augusta Center for Health and Rehabilitation, The Commons at Tall Pines in Belfast, the Maine Veterans’ Home in Scarborough, Falmouth By the Sea, The Cedars in Portland and Edgewood Rehabilitation and Living Center in Farmington, which was added Wednesday. Collectively, those facilities have seen more than 200 cases and 24 deaths.

Maine, population 1.3 million, is not new York City, yet it’s been as thoroughly closed as that metropolis.

Panic is an ugly thing, and leads to poor decision making.