Maine governor issues stay-at-home order until April ends

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s governor called for a statewide stay-at-home order on Tuesday that is scheduled to last until the end of the month as the state copes with mounting cases of coronavirus.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said her order begins on Thursday and prohibits people from traveling beyond their homes for everything other than essential activities such as buying groceries. Mills had previously issued an order that nonessential businesses must close to the public, but said Thursday that the state needed broader restrictions.

“Our cases will only grow, and more people will die. I say this just to be direct, to be as honest as I can with you,” Mills said during a Tuesday news conference. “Because saving lives will depend on all of us.”

The announcements came as Maine surpassed 300 for the number people testing positive for the new coronavirus - and recorded two more deaths.

Those two deaths linked to COVID-19, one each in York and Kennebec counties, bring the total to five in Maine, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Diseases Control.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

Mills also discouraged people from traveling to the state, and discouraged Mainers who might have spent the winter elsewhere from coming home at this time.

“You should not think you can escape the virus by coming here,” Mills said.

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CASE AT SHELTER

One person who tested positive spent time at the Oxford Street Shelter in Portland, Shah said. The state had been preparing for a positive case in a person experiencing homelessness, he said.

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MORE TESTS

Abbott Laboratories will begin production Wednesday of COVID-19 tests, making 50,000 of them daily in Scarborough.

The manufacturing plant expects to produce more than 1 million tests per month that can deliver positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, said Kimberly LaFleur, a company spokeswoman outside Chicago.

Abbott Laboratories received emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the test.

Maine, which has experienced testing shortages, is “very interested” in the system but more information is needed, said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

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SUPPLY REQUEST

Maine’s congressional delegation is urging the Department of Homeland Security to release more supplies to Maine. The delegation said in a letter that more personal protective equipment, testing kits and chemicals for testing are needed.

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L.L. BEAN

L.L. Bean already is using its shipping hub to sort and package food for distribution to food pantries. Now it has reopened its Brunswick production plant to create medical masks using materials from dog beds.

Workers who typically sew the iconic L.L. Bean Boots, dog beds and tote bags on Monday began transforming dog bed liners into medical masks.

Most of them will go to MaineHealth, which is partnering on the project and paying the labor and materials costs. The goal is to produce as many as 10,000 masks a day, officials said.

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Associated Press writer David Sharp contributed to this report.