This spring, tick experts at the University of Maine Tick Lab have noticed a big increase in the number of ticks that the public is submitting for testing. They think this upward trend might be linked to people spending more time outdoors than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that the coronavirus has been circulating around Maine for more than two months, the ever-growing mass of numbers, anecdotes and other information about the pandemic may be dizzying to anyone without a very strong interest in biology or disease surveillance. So the BDN has reached out to a few public experts for their advice on the best metrics to pay attention to that demonstrate the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Janet Mills and Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin announced that the Maine Department of Education has secured internet access and devices to facilitate at home learning for 100% of Maine school children for whom there was a reported need.

The SAD 4 school board gave approval to a 2020-21 budget totaling $7,397,862 during a May 12 meeting conducted remotely. The directors also scheduled the district budget meeting for Thursday, June 25 -- time to be announced at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. The total approved that evening will then be moved to a referendum for a “yes” or “no” vote on Tuesday, July 14 in the district member towns of Abbot, Cambridge, Guilford, Parkman, Sangerville and Wellington.

The administration of Gov. Janet Mills announced that, effective immediately, Maine lodging providers can begin accepting future reservations for stays with an arrival date of June 1 and beyond for Maine residents and for non-residents who comply with the state’s 14-day quarantine requirement.

Teachers from all 16 of Maine’s counties were honored May 14 in a virtual announcement that was broadcast live on the Maine Department of Education Facebook page. Piscataquis Community High School English instructor Jessica Gregory was named the 2020 Piscataquis County Teacher of the Year.

Maintaining your health is about more than just not contracting a deadly disease — even during the pandemic. But as the stay-at-home orders have dragged on, many of us have let our daily physical activity slide, which compromises our physical health in other ways. It’s time to change that.

For the second time, Gov. Janet Mills extended her civil state of emergency proclamation for another month on Wednesday, giving her more time to access federal funding and use certain powers to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The group representing 115 Maine communities that send their waste to a new plant in Hampden has made a loan of $1.5 million to the facility to help it make improvements after its first six months of regular operations brought in lower-than-expected revenues.

Jokingly referred to as the “Maine State Bird,” black flies are one aspect of the Maine outdoors that most people would prefer didn’t exist. Dotting the air in early spring, these tiny bugs have an annoying habit of flying into people’s eyes and ears. And their bites can be especially itchy.

The virtual announcement will be streamed live on the Maine Department of Education Facebook page. The pictures and a recording of the presentation will also be available after the announcement.

According to a group representing sporting camps around Maine, Gov. Janet Mill’s rural reopening plan falls short of providing relief to commercial sporting camps, employees, guides and rural neighbors because it bans visits from non-residents. Non-resident fishing trips over the next six weeks generates almost 90% of the annual revenue for many of the camps operating across the state.

Maine has become one of at least a dozen states that are beginning to ease restrictions on businesses in rural areas with fewer cases of the coronavirus while many rules will be in place in more heavily populated areas until June.

A group of Maine business owners on Friday sued Gov. Janet Mills over her unprecedented shutdown orders to limit the spread of the coronavirus claiming they are unconstitutional.

Gov. Janet Mills announced on Friday a rural reopening plan aimed at reopening certain additional businesses in rural Maine over the course of the next two weeks with added health and safety measures. The plan comes after Mills stated last week that her administration was considering opportunities for regional variation as part of its Restarting Maine’s Economy plan.

The National Weather Service predicts that a late season storm will bring between 3 and 6 inches of snow to northern Maine on Saturday, and a mix of rain and snow to the Bangor region and farther south.

A testing acquisition the governor described as a “game changer” could help Maine hit goals outlined by health officials as benchmarks for economic reopening, though effects on summer tourism are less clear and the state has performed fewer tests than most on a per-capita basis.

Following a month and a half of remote learning for students and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, this method of instruction will continue for about four more weeks as the SAD 46 school board approved Friday, June 5 as the final remote learning day of 2019-20 during a May 6 meeting conducted via Zoom.