As of 12 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, test results show that no Mainers have tested positive so far for the coronavirus. For the latest coronavirus news, click here.
Maine has still not confirmed through testing any cases of the coronavirus in the state, but it’s continuing to test more people and is setting up a hotline to answer Mainers’ questions about the infection, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of the 47 tests so far done by the state, 42 have come back negative, according to the Maine CDC. It posted those results on its website at noon on Wednesday. However, Maine CDC is still waiting for the results of another five tests that it has also done, according to its website.
On Tuesday, the Maine CDC also announced that it was rolling out a new hotline available to Mainers with questions about COVID-19, the disease caused by the infection.
The hotline is available by calling 211 or 1-866-811-5695. It can also be reached by texting your zipcode to 898-211 or emailing info@211maine.org.
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The new COVID-19 testing figures released Wednesday by the Maine CDC show that the total number of completed tests nearly doubled between Tuesday and Wednesday. As of Tuesday afternoon, the state had just 20 confirmed test results and another five pending samples.
The overnight bump in test results comes as COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe and country.
Since originating in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019, it has spread to at least 100 countries, according to data collected by the New York Times. More than 1,000 cases of the virus were reported in the U.S. as of Wednesday morning, including at least 31 deaths related to it, according to the New York Times.
On Wednesday, COVID-19 was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
Maine remains the only state in New England to not have any confirmed cases of the disease. Ninety-two confirmed cases were reported in Massachusetts as of Tuesday, according to the Boston Globe. As of the same time, New Hampshire and Rhode Island had each reported 5, Connecticut had reported 2 and Vermont had reported 1, according to the New York Times.
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