Every morning when I get out of bed I open my computer to the Maine.gov website to see how Maine is doing in the fight against the novel corona virus (Covid-19). I continue to see a gradual climb in cases. While I acknowledge that the governor and CDC representatives give daily briefings I just can’t shake a few things out of my mind.

I habitually see license plates from other states (NY, PA, NJ, MA) in my area and wonder how some of these people even found their way here. Did they come to avoid corona? Is anyone tracking them to make sure that they had the required 14-day quarantine? Bet not.

Then I inherently go to the thought that if it were possible to completely shut down the state for 14 days we would flatline corona. So, what we are trying to do is to get as close to that mark as we can in order to reduce the spread, right? But when I recently went on line to see about Bangor International Airport and the Portland Jetport I learned that each of them has daily flights coming from JFK, Baltimore, DC(2), Newark, Detroit, St. Petersburg, and Chicago. I called the CDC and asked why this is happening. I mean, some of these places are corona epicenters with high infection rates and all it takes is one rogue, asymptomatic person to spread corona more widely. Mathematically, one person, in 15 steps of infection can be responsible for transmitting corona to 15 million people. Maine CDC hotline (211) told me that the flights are essential. Why, I asked? Well, they probably have health care people who have been helping in other places. Really? I commend our health care workers for doing this, but REALLY? My daughter, who lives in Cumberland County, has older neighbors who just returned to their Maine home from their St. Petersburg winter home, going against conventional CDC suggestions that one remain where one is now rather than fly anywhere else. Were these people tracked? Uh, no. Were they tested, uh no. So, despite all of the precautions we have massive loopholes for the transmission of Covid-19 and I wonder why? Moreover, here we have Abbott Labs located in Scarborough who have perfected a Covid-19 test that can give results in 5-15 minutes. They are said to produce 50,000 per week. Maine got 155 as their allocation. Talk about a virtual ‘piss hole in the snow’. On top of that Maine is actually being forced to keep BIW open. I realize that there are some voluntary provisions that are possible to help protect workers, but JHC, people forced into a dangerous situation for them and their families not to mention a nice formula for keeping corona around and viable for longer than necessary? Remember – a 2 week complete shutdown flat lines the virus, so let’s shoot for approaching that mark. Being frivolous at this time in a pandemic does NOT pay off.

If we really want to hold down the corona virus spread we do need to close as many holes as possible. Why are airports open to PASSENGER travel? If there is a very good reason then what are the special provisions used to safeguard us and the passengers (you know, the ones NOT returning from St. Petersburg so they can get their garden raked and ready for planting).

While all of the rhetoric seems to point to Maine doing things that might appear to be several fingers in the corona dike, the reality is that we have a few more holes that are leaking and it only takes ONE drop to keep this going for the foreseeable future.

Richard Aishton

Farmington