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State health officials were notified Friday morning that two more people in Maine have tested presumptively positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said preliminary testing done by MaineHealth in its lab showed both people have the virus.

The state recorded its first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 on Thursday. That patient is a Navy Reservist in her 50s who had recently returned to Androscoggin County from Italy and is now self-isolating at home.

The two new cases are a woman in her 20s, who is being treated in isolation at Maine Medical Center in Portland, and a man in his 50s who was screened at a MaineHealth outpatient clinic in Portland. That man is in self-isolation at home, according to the CDC.

Additional information about the patients including the county in which the man lives may be released Friday afternoon when CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah holds his daily media briefing.

Maine CDC staff and MaineHealth providers have started investigating the patients travel histories under the assumption that the preliminary tests results are presumptive positive.

Nationwide, there have been more than 1,700 confirmed coronavirus cases and 41 deaths. The number of cases across the globe now tops 135,000 and nearly 5,000 deaths.

Maine has tested a total of 86 people for the virus, 65 of whom tested negative with 20 test results still pending, the CDC said Thursday.

MaineHealth, the parent of Maine Medical Center, said Thursday that its NorDx Laboratories in Scarborough has joined with the Maine CDC to boost the states capability to conduct coronavirus tests, speeding up results and improving capacity. The test samples from the two new cases were set to the Maine CDC for review and will require confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Trump administration on Friday announced a series of steps aimed to boost the availability of coronavirus testing. The Food and Drug Administration has created a 24-hour emergency hotline for laboratories having difficulty getting materials or having issues running tests. Additionally, nearly $1.3 million in federal money will be given to two companies trying to develop rapid COVID-19 tests that could determine within an hour if someone is infected, according to the Washington Post.

MaineHealth officials released a statement Friday morning saying hospital incident command systems have been activated at each of its facilities. The incident command is a group of hospital employees that gather frequently to plan for the onset of a potential disaster, such as a pandemic, blizzard, flooding or a mass shooting. The process is activated when the hospital anticipates an event that could stress its systems.

While it is understandably unsettling to members of the community that this outbreak has come to Maine, we are prepared for this across our system, Dora Ann Mills, MaineHealths chief health improvement officer, said in a statement.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, shortness of breath and lower respiratory distress. Individuals who exhibit those symptoms are advised to contact medical providers before going to a health care facility, where medical providers will decide if a test is warranted.

We should take the threat of COVID-19 seriously, but there is no need to panic, Mills said. As with seasonal flu, there are common-sense steps each of us can take to slow the spread of infection and reduce our chances of getting sick.

Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday announced that the state is recommending but not mandating the cancellation or postponement of all nonessential indoor gatherings of 250 or more people for the next 30 days. While the governor stressed that she is not recommending that schools close, sporting events and other gatherings should be reconsidered. Additionally, all nonessential out-of-state travel for state employees has also been suspended.

Shah said the recommendation against large gatherings is consistent with the social distancing practices such as avoiding shaking hands and maintaining a 6-foot distance from each other that health professionals recommend all Americans practice in order to reduce the risk of broader spread in the community.

Those recommendations have prompted a slew of cancellations in Maine, from sporting events to concerts to Portlands St. Patricks Day parade. The University of Maine System and Bowdoin College are among the growing list of institutions sending students home from campus and transitioning to online-only classes.

Public schools in Maine are responding to the spread of coronavirus by canceling field trips and events and preparing plans for remote learning. Portlands Baxter Academy of Technology and Science announced Thursday it would close the school until further notice and make plans to transition to remote learning by Monday. In Biddeford, volunteers are being asked to stay out of schools temporarily and parents must wait outside to pick up their children.

Nursing homes across Maine have started restricting or banning visitors to protect elderly residents who are particularly vulnerable to coronavirus. Those facilities are also screening employees by asking questions about their respiratory symptoms, recent travel and if they have been in contact with people tested for COVID-19. Some are also taking temperatures of employees and vendors and turning away anyone with a temperature higher than 100.4.

The Maine Principals Association announced Friday that it has delayed the high school spring sports preseason until April 27.

This story will be updated.

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Two more presumptive cases of coronavirus in Maine, according to CDC - Press Herald