I am an ER doctor in midcoast Maine. I’ve resisted feeding into the coronavirus frenzy, but as a frontline provider I fear for my community. I fear that the Trump administration’s refusal to form a unified message in the face of this crisis will dangerously overburden our already-taxed emergency medical system and will lead to […]

Re: “Luxury summer rentals firm promotes early visits to Maine from out of state” (March 24, Page C1): While most of the commercial exploitation that is mentioned in the press to date has focused on those who are scalping personal protective equipment or items that have become difficult to purchase, such as paper goods, for […]

The article “OceanView residents coping with isolation” (March 21, Page A1) was timely and important. It sounds as if the staff at the retirement community are doing a good job of keeping the residents occupied and busy. Social isolation in the elderly has great negative effects on them, as serious as smoking or obesity. It […]

In 1944, the Willow Run factory of Ford Motor Co. was rolling a B-24 bomber off the production line every 55 minutes, each of them assembled with 450,000 parts. Ford and all the other manufacturers that made this possible were able to accomplish it through the oversight of the War Production Board. In our current […]

I was interested in Marc A. Theissen’s March 20 column, “It’s time to practice social, economic distancing from China” (Page A7). However, I found some of his statements quite illogical. I do not believe that China is totally responsible for this epidemic. While it is probably true that their delays in reporting the viral infections […]

Even as we are told to avoid gatherings of more than a few people, 6,800 people are being compelled to gather every day at Bath Iron Works. That BIW is allowed to remain open right now is an enormous threat to the workers, the community of Bath and the state. The Trump administration insists that […]

How do we win the battle without losing the war? Current efforts limiting social contact to slow the coronavirus spread are critically important. According to experts, they’ll be most effective if strictly adhered to for a five-week period. While focused on the immediate threat, I hope we don’t lose sight of the significant, adverse effects […]

If I may offer some suggestions in the absence of toilet paper … Some of us are going to have to be creative if we run out of toilet paper in these trying times. For the sake of our collective water systems, please remember that only three things go in the toilet: pee, poop and […]