A DAILY DIGEST OF MAINE NEWS
MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021 — ISSUE #61
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the Daily Monitor, an evening email newsletter that recaps the most relevant news and information from our editorial team and from our media partners around the state. The Daily Monitor is a product of The Maine Monitor and the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.

NAVIGATING PAYWALLS: Several stories in each issue of The Daily Monitor will come from Maine news organizations that require a subscription to access their content. To avoid paywalls, we encourage readers to subscribe to Maine's daily news products: the Portland Press Herald, the Bangor Daily News, the Central Maine Newspapers, the Times Record and the Lewiston Sun Journal.
CORONAVIRUS IN MAINE
25,968 TOTAL CASES (An increase of 376 from Sunday)
360 DEATHS (An increase of 1 from Sunday)
376 NEW DAILY CASES (An increase of 29 from Sunday)
14,060 TOTAL ACTIVE CASES (An increase of 292 from Sunday)
186 CURRENTLY IN HOSPITAL (A decrease of 4 from Sunday)
11,548 RECOVERIES (An increase of 110 from Sunday)
32,955 MAINERS VACCINATED (Flat from Sunday)
TOP STORIES
Another Mainer has died as health officials on Monday reported 376 more coronavirus cases across the state.

Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 25,968, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 25,592 on Sunday.
Of those, 21,998 have been confirmed positive, while 3,970 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

A York County resident has succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 360. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

So far, 1,107 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 186 are currently hospitalized, with 51 in critical care and 23 on ventilators.

A majority of the cases — 15,382 — have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Monday, there have been 1,201,241 negative test results out of 1,233,186 overall. More than 2.5 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus pandemic will directly influence the legislative conversation in the State House this session.

Dozens of the 1,690 bills submitted to the revisor’s office deal directly with the pandemic, according to an analysis of preliminary titles released last week. That number of bills — not exactly uncommon during a regular session — promises to make for a long session already complicated by the virus.

The bills run the gamut from addressing education and health care issues caused by the pandemic to altering tax usage and giving the Legislature more control during emergency situations. Several address racial justice and inequality issues brought to the forefront by the pandemic and protests against police brutality throughout the summer.

The range of bills show just how much the pandemic has dominated the conversation in Maine, and underscores where the political fights could be. Varying efforts to rein in Gov. Janet Mills’ powers will likely prove to be contentious as the conversation around how to best manage the pandemic becomes more partisan.

There are 11 bills related directly to the governor’s powers during states of emergency, something legislative Republicans have been pushing for since the spring, not after the Legislature unanimously gave Mills major control over the pandemic in March. 

Those titles range from an effort to hem the governor’s powers in a state of emergency to various proposals to require legislative involvement to keep a crisis state ongoing. Several are from Republican leadership, who have framed those bills as a way to give lawmakers more of a direct say in how the pandemic is managed.
RELATED: A look inside the bills for the next Maine legislative session (By Caitlin Andrews of the Bangor Daily News)
Maine has started providing coronavirus vaccines to health workers other than hospital staff, and hopes to give one to all health care personnel in the state by next month.

The first phase, or “phase 1A,” of the state’s vaccine plan is slated to conclude in February, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services said. The initial phase involves vaccinating all the long-term care residents in the state as well as all the health care workers.

The state’s goal remains dependent on the federal government’s allocation of the vaccines, the DHHS said in a statement. Public health officials in Maine and other states have expressed frustration at the pace and volume of the supply of vaccines from the feds.

The Maine Medical Association is working with state authorities on the rollout, said Andrew McLean, the chief executive officer of the organization.
RELATED: Front-line medical workers prepare for second vaccine doses (By Kelley Bouchard of the Portland Press Herald)
2 bicyclists, 10 pedestrians killed in crashes in Maine in 2020 (By Jennifer Mitchell of Maine Public)
With no fans in stands, streaming becomes main connection (By Zack Miller of the VillageSoup)