Pats open virus testing site; RI nixes Palm Sunday service

A look at virus-related developments in the New England:

MAINE

Two hospitals in northern Maine are cutting pay for hospital staff amid the pandemic.

Doctors, registered nurse anesthetists and administrative staff at Houlton Regional Hospital in Houlton will see a 10% salary cut, as will regular staff — except for nurses and respiratory therapists — at Cary Medical Center in Caribou, the Bangor Daily News reports.

The hospitals say they’re seeing a steep drop in revenue even as they’re bracing for a surge of virus patients and that other health centers in the state are enacting similar cuts.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is warning Maine small-business owners of a virus-related scam in which owners are being falsely told they need to pay a fee in order to apply for payroll relief loans through the new Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act.

As of Saturday, the state has confirmed more than 450 positive cases and 10 deaths from the virus.

MASSACHUSETTS

The New England Patriots opened a drive-through testing site Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

The parking lot site will be designated specifically for police officers, firefighters and other first responders and will be able to test up to 200 people a day for free.

Gov. Charlie Baker, after touring the site Sunday, said similar testing sites will be established in other parts of the state.

He said a field hospital is also being set up on the military base on Cape Cod to complement ones at an arena in Worcester and the convention center in Boston.

Meanwhile, all state prisons have been placed lockdown after a third inmate died Saturday of COVID-19 at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater.

And boardwalk businesses in the seaside town of Salisbury have been ordered closed by the local health officials because police say customers and sightseers weren’t following social distancing guidelines this weekend.

As of Saturday, Massachusetts has confirmed nearly 12,000 cases of the virus and more than 200 deaths since the pandemic started.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

State officials are closing state-run highway rest stops and welcome centres Sunday at 4 p.m. in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.

The privately run Hooksett welcome center on I-93 will remain open, however.

About 30 rest stop workers will be temporarily reassigned to the state’s liquor and wine outlets, according to the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

As of Saturday, more than 600 people have tested positive for the virus and nine people have died from COVID-19 in New Hampshire.

RHODE ISLAND

Gov. Gina Raimondo has directed churches not to make palm branches available for pick-up for Palm Sunday, the Christian holiday that falls on the Sunday before Easter.

Catholic churches in the state had been planning a “grab and go” palm pickup. Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin in a tweet urged parishes to comply with the governor’s order.

Meanwhile, three staff members at the state prison complex in Cranston have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Corrections.

More than 900 have tested positive for the virus and 25 have died in Rhode Island since the pandemic started, Raimondo said Sunday.

VERMONT

A temporary, 400-bed medical facility built by the Vermont National Guard is opening at a fairgrounds.

The first 150-beds at the converted Champlain Valley Exposition Center in Essex Junction are expected to be ready by Sunday, according to Lt. Col. Chris Gookin, of the state National Guard, which is building the site.

Meanwhile, the state’s largest city will begin ticketing people who don’t follow the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order. Mayor Miro Weinberger’s order imposes $100 fine for a first offence and up to $500 dollars for additional violations.

The mayor also said Sunday certain city streets will be limited to local traffic starting this weekend in response to concerns that bike paths and sidewalks are too crowded for pedestrians to maintain a safe distance from each other.

More than 500 cases have been confirmed and 22 people have died from COVID-19 in Vermont, state health officials reported Sunday.