The 39 public libraries are scattered around the state and will receive $5,000 to $100,000 apiece.

Homeless kids often fell through the cracks during the tumult of the COVID pandemic, when many schools struggled to keep track of families with unstable housing.

Employees could face disciplinary action, including being fired, if they do not comply, a company memo says.

Based in Guilford, Puritan had become one of the top two swab manufacturers in the world, but orders have decreased dramatically as the COVID-19 pandemic has receded, forcing the company to downsize.

The caseload in Kennebec County courts is 67% higher than it was pre-pandemic, with 2,343 cases pending.

Sixty-six cases of COVID-19 have been reported since May 14 among staff and residents at St. Joseph's Rehabilitation and Residence.

Three judges on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a lower court's decision to throw out a legal challenge to the state's COVID-19 mandate for health care workers.

While the White House has threatened to veto Republican’s debt ceiling bill, the administration has signaled a willingness to consider other budget caps.

The state will still update COVID-19 case counts, hospitalizations and deaths.

The pandemic has been on a downward trend for more than a year, and most countries have returned to life before COVID-19.

Vaccine requirements for federal workers and federal contractors, as well as foreign air travelers to the U.S., will end May 11.

Masks are no longer required at MaineHealth or Northern Light Health medical facilities statewide, effectively putting an end to the emergency measure in most situations 3 years after the pandemic began.

The move by Maine's second largest health care network comes as the number of hospital patients with COVID-19 has dropped to the lowest level since August 2021.

The U.S. national emergency to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

Nearly a third of all Mainers ages 5 years and older have received the omicron-targeting bivalent booster shot compared to less than 18% of individuals nationwide.

Sunday's announcement represents the second time Maine's governor has contracted COVID-19 within the past year.

Officials say the 2022 maternal death rate is on track to get close to pre-pandemic levels. But that's not great: The rate before COVID-19 was the highest it had been in decades.

Long after Maine's first case of coronavirus, communal activities and gatherings are reaching pre-pandemic levels again, though troubling remnants of isolation persist.

U.S. intelligence agencies are divided over whether a lab leak or a spillover from animals is the likely source of the deadly virus.

The system is still encouraging community members to get vaccinated and boosted.

Did COVID-19 originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab?

A federal mandate for health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 has been in place nationally for a year.

Lawmakers who negotiated the payments say they believed the pandemic-era aid would be tax-free, but a Maine Revenue Service official says no such assurance was made.

Hundreds of thousands of students who have dropped off public school rolls since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic are unaccounted for.

Even though some taxpayers already have filed, the state is one of nearly two dozen where federal officials have yet to determine whether the payments are taxable.

Despite objections from public health advocates, a legislative committee voted Wednesday in favor of permanently legalizing the pandemic-era practice of to-go cocktails, wine, and beer.

The system president says high vaccination rates in the state and improved outcomes for people who contract COVID-19 played a role in the decision.

Nirav Shah, director of Maine's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, will be second in command at the U.S. CDC starting next month.

The Biden administration had previously considered ending the emergency last year, but held off amid concerns about a potential 'winter surge' in cases.

The Food and Drug Administration asked its scientific advisers Thursday to help lay the groundwork for switching to once-a-year boosters for most Americans.

U.S. health officials want to make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the annual flu shot.

Hong Kong, which once had some of the world's strictest COVID-19 rules, has been easing various restrictions to revive its economy.

The state is one of the most vaccinated in the country, but nursing home residents are far more updated for the latest shot than those who care for them.

Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, said a wall of immunity should help prevent the outbreaks experienced last winter.

A record 104,000 people missed work in October 2022 because of child care problems, surpassing early pandemic levels.

The U.S., Japan and some other countries are requiring travelers from China to show a negative test before allowing them to enter, and Taiwan has said it will quarantine positive cases.

EU health officials promise to continue talks on seeking a common approach.

Meanwhile, Japan announces restrictions on visitors from the country as infections surge.

MaineHealth is participating in a national study of long COVID patients that many hope will lead to cures.

Biden ultimately accepted Republican demands in order to win passage of the legislation agreeing with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that lifting the mandate was not in the best interests of the military.

Maine reported 3,275 new cases of flu on Tuesday.

Doctors and other experts say the problem could persist through the winter cold-and-flu season but should not last as long as other recent shortages of baby formula.

There will be several events around southern Maine during the eight-day holiday, which begins at sundown on Sunday.

Since the pandemic began, employment of people with disabilities is up nearly 25%, to more than 7.3 million workers last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

COVID-19 cases have shown a marked increase after Thanksgiving, and further increases are projected from Christmas and New Year's.

But the nation is seeing a rapid rise in new infections, raising concerns that its health system could be overwhelmed.

Hospitalizations for people with COVID-19 rose by more than 30% in two weeks.

Over 26 million people in Shanghai were confined for two months in one of the country's strictest and most visible lockdowns.

The accelerated pace reflects pressure on President Xi Jinping to chart a path out of the crisis and quell public discontent.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that President Biden told House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy he would consider lifting the mandate.