Some Maine schools enact closures, more could follow - Foster's Daily Democrat

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — School districts announced closures in response to the spread of the coronavirus.

Kittery and the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District announced schools will close.

Brunswick schools Superintendent Paul Perzanoksi sent a letter to parents and students Friday that said the district is "working furiously to develop alternatives and plan for the unknown." The district has canceled school for students Monday.

Districts in the state have also said they are preparing students for the possibility of completing the academic year's lessons at home.

The number of people testing positive in Maine for the coronavirus grew to three Saturday, the state Center for Disease Control said. The agency said a man in his 50s was screened at a MaineHealth outpatient clinic in Portland and is in self-isolation at home in Cumberland County. The first positive case the day before involved a woman in her 50s in Androscoggin County.

A third person to test presumptively positive in Maine is a woman in her 40s from Cumberland County who was in close household contact of another person who received a positive test, Maine health officials said Saturday.

For most people, the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, results in only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death. The vast majority of people recover. People with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover, according to the World Health Organization.

Fryeburg Academy, a boarding school, said it would suspend in-person classes beginning Tuesday through March 31.