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A proposal to extend passenger rail service to Lewiston and Auburn isn’t exactly on the fast track, but it is chugging along after lawmakers this week backed further study of the idea.
The $180,000 proposal would build on a 2019 study of rail options between Portland and the state’s second largest metropolitan area to require the state Department of Transportation to provide “an economic evaluation of commuter and passenger rail service” on the route by next March.
Proponents hope that with a solid plan in place, the state may be able to grab a chunk of cash from President Joe Biden’s $80 billion initiative to bolster rail travel across the country, which has yet to win congressional approval.
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Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
LEWISTON State health officials reported 38 new cases of COVID-19 in Androscoggin County on Friday and the death of two residents, a man and a woman, one in their 70s and one in their 80s.
The Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention reported 268 new cases across the state, but the high number of hospitalizations this week is a reminder of the mid-month surge in cases in Maine and in Androscoggin County.
A total of 121 people in the state were hospitalized with the disease as of Friday morning, according to data tracked by the Maine CDC. Fifty-nine were in critical care, the highest since Jan. 26. Fifteen were on ventilators.
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Updated 52 mins ago
Lewiston-Auburn leads the entire country in daily average of new COVID-19 cases
The Lewiston-Auburn metropolitan ranks third in the country for the highest daily average of new COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks, according to data published by The New York Times.
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Rodney Guptill gets his first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday from paramedic Dan Brown at the Turner Fire Department clinic. Guptill is the former chief of the Turner Fire Department and had to postpone his first dose so he could undergo surgery.
Andree Kehn/Sun Journal
LEWISTON – Only two other metropolitan areas in the entire country have a higher daily average of new COVID-19 cases over the last two weeks than Lewiston-Auburn.
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City officials from Lewiston did not return a request for comment.
William Wallace, a lecturer at Bates College in Lewiston and a member of the Lewiston Area Public Health Committee, said he believes the fact that vaccination eligibility for Mainers under 50 only opened this month and community spread through social events are driving new cases.
“I think it’s probably those gatherings that are taking place on weekends or evenings where groups of people get together, not from their own family pod, and they’re spreading and contracting the virus,” Wallace said.
At Bates College, three unsanctioned social gatherings preceded a large outbreak and a two-week campus shutdown. The latest round of testing found only one new case, a staff member. There are two active cases among students and two among staff, including the new positive case, according to the college’s dashboard. A total of 124 members of the Bates community have recovered from COVID-19.
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