Sept. 20 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine

As of Sunday, there have been 5,079 coronavirus cases reported in Maine since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of those, 4,562 have been confirmed positive, while 517 were classified as "probable cases."

New cases were reported in Androscoggin (8), Aroostook (1), Cumberland (9), Franklin (1), Kennebec (1), Oxford (7), Somerset (1) and York (15) counties, state data show. Information about where two additional cases were reported wasn't immediately available.

No new deaths were reported Sunday, leaving the statewide death toll at 139. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

Here's a roundup of the latest news about the coronavirus and its impact in Maine:

-- "An eighth person has now died from COVID-19 as part of an outbreak stemming from an Aug. 7 wedding in the Millinocket-area, even though none of those eight people attended the wedding themselves." -- Charles Eichacker, BDN

-- "Maine health officials have been sounding the alarm about the spread of COVID-19 in York County in recent weeks, saying the state could lose its grip on the disease if cases continue to grow in Maine's southernmost county." -- Matthew Stone, BDN

-- "A late spring frost, a devastating drought and labor troubles wrought by the coronavirus pandemic conspired to make 2020 a difficult year for the wild blueberry producers who harvest the fruit in the nation's northeastern corner. ... The pandemic made it more difficult to hire seasonal workers and created a need for additional safety measures that complicated the harvest." -- Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press

-- "Retired Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz says he's recovering after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Ortiz said Friday that he was asymptomatic, but that his brother who was also infected had to spend a week in the hospital and lost 25 pounds. " -- The Associated Press

-- As of Sunday afternoon, the coronavirus had sickened 6,784,688 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 199,418 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

-- Elsewhere in New England, there have been 9,295 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,492 in Connecticut, 1,088 in Rhode Island, 438 in New Hampshire and 58 in Vermont.

Watch more:

___

(c)2020 Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine)

Visit the Bangor Daily News (Bangor, Maine) at www.bangordailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.