AUGUSTA, Maine (WGAN) Maine’s CDC director says the state should prepare for the arrival of coronavirus while there are still no confirmed cases.
In a briefing Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Nirav Shah said the latest batch of test results have come back negative. Given the state’s significant elderly population, Shah says now is the time to take precautions to protect residents, especially those who might be more vulnerable to the virus and are living in long-term care facilities.
Shah says 20 test results came back negative. The state recently purchased equipment to conduct the tests in Augusta, instead of having to send samples to the national CDC lab. As of Tuesday afternoon, Shah said five test results were still pending, but that number was likely to change over the course of the day.
10 of the results came from the lab in Augusta, and 10 came from the national CDC lab.
Maine is one of 16 states that have still not reported any confirmed cases of the virus. Other New England states have reported cases; New Hampshire confirmed it’s fifth presumptive case on Tuesday.
