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Town of New Gloucester
385 Intervale Road, New Gloucester, ME 04260
(207) 926-4126 (phone) / (207) 926-4136 (fax)
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Town of Poland
1231 Maine Street, Poland, ME 04274
(207) 998-4601 (phone) / (207) 998-2002 (fax)
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New Major Federal Funding Will Be Used To Expand Lab and Testing Capacity across Maine
The $52.7 million grant, previously announced by Maine’s congressional delegation, has been received and will help expand State and rural hospital lab capacity and testing sites across Maine in the coming weeks and months.
The State of Maine has now received $52.7 million in federal grant funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) to bolster epidemiological and laboratory capacity to respond to infectious diseases, particularly COVID-19. The State 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.
The Governor outlined the State’s three primary goals for the $52.7 million investment, which included the following.
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Expanding the State’s Lab Capacity: The State is aiming to expand, both in the short-and longer-term, capacity at the State’s Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL), including expanding physical space and increasing staffing to increase the number of testing options. In the longer-term, the State intends to accelerate the construction of its new laboratory in Augusta, which broke ground prior to COVID-19. Investing in a state-of-the-art laboratory facility in Maine will facilitate COVID-19 response, innovation, and public health generally;
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Bolstering Rural Hospital Lab Capacity: COVID-19 has underscored the long-standing challenges rural residents face in accessing timely healthcare. Building on the Administration’s initiative on rural health transformation, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) will work with rural hospitals to expand laboratory capacity to help them respond to COVID-19 and other infectious disease outbreaks; and
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Establishing Drive-Through Testing Sites: As the State lab ramps up testing capacity, the State of Maine also aims to increase the number of testing sites outside of healthcare office settings. Currently, Maine has 38 testing sites outside of office settings. The State is exploring options to partner with businesses and others to establish new so-called drive-through “swab and send” sites in Maine. This would allow primary care providers to recommend patients get tested in sites that are both accessible and safe.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Maine CDC are in the initial planning stages and will unveil more detailed plans in the coming weeks. This funding builds on the Administration’s partnership with IDEXX to expand testing in Maine and allow for the elimination of the testing prioritization system so that healthcare providers can recommend testing for anyone they suspect of having COVID-19. As announced earlier, clinicians may now order tests for symptomatic people and people without symptoms who may be at risk for transmitting COVID-19 to others.
Public Comment Period Now Open On Wording of Energy Corridor Ballot Question
The Secretary of State is now accepting public comment for the wording of the energy transmission project citizens' initiative question that has qualified to appear on the November 3, 2020 referendum election ballot.
The Bureau of Corporations, Elections, and Commissions initially certified the citizens’ initiative, Resolve, To Reject the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission Project on March 4, with an amended decision issued April 1 following a court ruling. The new decision, issued April 1, finds 66,117 valid signatures. A minimum of 63,067 signatures from registered Maine voters is required to qualify for the ballot.
State law requires the Secretary of State to present the ballot question “concisely and intelligibly.” He will be accepting public comments regarding the question’s form and content for a 30-day period, which began Friday, May 22, and ends at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2020.
The Secretary of State proposes the following wording to appear on the ballot for this initiative: Do you want to adopt a Resolve directing the Maine Public Utilities Commission to reverse its approval of the proposed New England Clean Energy Connect power transmission line?
Comments supporting or opposing the citizens’ initiative will not be considered; this 30-day period is to receive comments only on the ballot question itself, and whether the question presents an accurate and clear representation of the proposed resolve.
Written comments may be filed with the Secretary of State by:
- e-mail at office@maine.gov, using subject line Public Comment;
- mail at Secretary of State, Attn: Public Comment, 148 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0148; or
- hand delivery at: Office of the Secretary of State, Nash School Building, 103 Sewall St., 2nd Floor, Augusta, Maine.
Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, Arbor Week, and National Invasive Species Awareness Week
The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry (DACF) is marking Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, Arbor Week, and with states across the nation, National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW).
For more information about Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, Arbor Week, and National Invasive Species Awareness Week, click here.
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