Many Maine hospitals have more critical care beds and ventilators available right now than before the coronavirus pandemic began, positioning medical providers to be able to handle an increase in critically ill patients if a surge occurs, a top hospital administrator said Wednesday.

Sunday, I decided to venture out into the vast unknown hellscape now known as "reality" to one of our illustrious essential businesses -- a home improvement store -- in order to acquire the necessary handful of items that I needed to repair said broken thing.

Similarly, the Ridge View Community School that runs a school pantry program in Dexter has gone from serving 40-50 families a week to 110 and the nearby Dover-Foxcroft Area Food Cupboard has gone from serving 85 households to 140, plus an additional 10 deliveries to home-bound community members.

Whom do you and other members of your group believe deserves to be your community’s 2020 Spirit of America Foundation Tribute honoree for their help to your organization and/or other causes?

I was 12 when my family moved into the lodge on the western shore of Umsaskis Lake. The lodge sat up on a high bank overlooking the lake. My siblings and I would spend the next five summers exploring the outdoors there. As long as Mama had a general idea of where we were, we were allowed to be free range kids. We did a fair amount of canoeing, berry picking and hiking, but most of my free time in the out of doors was spent swimming and fishing off the dock in front of the lodge. We could swim or we could fish, but never at the same time. I now realize that Mama didn’t want to be digging fishhooks out of my younger brothers.

Re-opening businesses while COVID-19 is still circulating is not as simple as turning on a switch or sending an email to employees asking them to show up for work. For much of the state, schools have already been closed for the remainder of the academic year. Many parents will have no option but to stay home or modify their schedules to ensure that their kids have proper supervision.

The lack of a vaccine to combat COVID-19 has left the battle against the pandemic to more direct human approaches -- the most common of which is social distancing. But one Piscataquis County company is helping to fight that battle in situations where the six-foot separation between people isn’t possible. JSI Store Fixtures in Milo has been among the nation’s leaders in producing transparent hygiene barriers that perhaps are best recognized as those plexiglass shields that have popped up at local grocery stores to separate the customers from the cashier.

Under the revised season framework, youth hunters will now get two youth hunting days, Saturday April 25 and Monday, April 27 instead of only May 2. The regular season for all turkey hunters will now start on Saturday, May 2, instead of Monday, May 4. This will give youth hunters and adult hunters each an extra day to hunt, and will start the season earlier. The season will conclude as scheduled on June 6.

In addition to grant support, Dunkin’ has reached out to Maine hospitals -- including  Northern Light Mayo Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft -- community health clinics and hunger relief organizations throughout the state offering to deliver local hero care packages containing gift cards and coffee.

Yes, come the first week of May, when many of us will head to the woods for the opening day of turkey hunting season, it'll be much nicer (unless it rains).