Test shortage in Maine; Massachusetts field hospital opens

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A look at coronavirus developments around New England

MAINE

Maine health officials say supplies of rapid CO9ID-19 tests that recently became available at 65 pharmacies across the state are likely to end without additional funding by the federal government.

The Portland Press Herald reports the rapid tests are seen as a key tool to fight the pandemic.

Maine’s Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said the federal government has been providing the rapid tests, but that will stop at the end of the month.

Results of the rapid tests can be available in 15 minutes or within hours. Regular tests in Maine usually take 24 to 48 hours or longer to come back.

A coronavirus relief bill being considered by congress would include money for testing.

This fall Maine received 400,000 of the rapid tests, produced by Abbott Laboratories, with 300,000 of them designated for pharmacies where people could get a test for free without a doctor’s note.

MASSACHUSETTS

The DCU Field Hospital is set to open its doors Sunday in Worcester as a location where stable nonCO9ID-19 patients who would be transferred from

other hospitals.

WHDH reports the field hospital does not service walk-ins or emergency cases.

“It’s really important to us that people continue to get their non-Covid care,” said DCU Field Hospital Medical director John Broach.

The field hospital will ensure hospitals have the capacity to take care of sicker COVID-19 patients and people with heart attacks, strokes, and other ailments that require hospitalization, he said.

Broach said officials are predicting increased hospitalizations over the next several weeks.

‘We see the caseload rising right now, and I think we’ll see the hospitalizations rise a week to two weeks from now,” Broach said.

VERMONT

As winter approaches, road crews around Vermont are planning for what they will do if plow truck drivers get infected with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, as cases have been climbing in Vermont and around the country.

Some communities like Williston are looking into having contracts with local businesses that could do some plowing.

“Even if you have all these contacts in place, and you have mutual aid agreements, it’s likely there may not be enough people to go around in general, because roads have to be plowed in other towns, too,” Joe Damiata, director of risk management services at the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, told the Times Argus.

Sara Tully, the town administrator in Mendon, said the town is making plans to backup its backup drivers at the state’s suggestion.