PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The University of Maine System is planning for a return to a traditional experience for students in the fall.
The system announced its preliminary fall semester plans on Wednesday, focusing on a return to a pre-pandemic college experience with students in classrooms instead of taking classes remotely. More facilities are expected to be open with fewer restrictions.
With more people getting vaccinated and public health restrictions easing, “it feels like we can finally say that the pandemic’s grip is loosening,” Chancellor Dannel Malloy said in a message to staff and students.
UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said the vaccinations are key.
“Knowing that all of our adult-aged students, faculty and staff will be eligible for a vaccine by July has us planning confidently for a rich, active and in-person campus experience this fall,” she said.
In other pandemic news in Maine:
VACCINATION CLINICS
Maine health authorities are working with independent health care providers on COVID-19 vaccination clinics as immunization efforts ramp up in the state.
Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah said Tuesday the state is working with the providers on scheduling and to make sure they have the right volume of vaccine doses. Health networks such as Portland-based Martin’s Point have started allowing patients to sign up for COVID-19 vaccination waiting lists.
Shah said the state is working with providers to “open their doors not only to their own patients, but anyone, irrespective of who is a patient.” The state is currently vaccinating teachers, school staff members and people who are age 60 or older.
More than 20% of state residents have received at least their first dose of the vaccine.
THE NUMBERS
The latest average positivity rate in Maine is 1.84%. State health departments are calculating positivity rate differently across the country, but for Maine, the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test specimens using data from The COVID Tracking Project.
The seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Maine has risen over the past two weeks from 1.73% on Feb. 21 to 1.84% on March 7.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 46,000 positive cases of the virus and 723 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
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