PORTLAND, Maine — The coronavirus has prompted tough action in Maine’s largest city after city leaders learned one of the people who is presumed to have the disease is a city employee.
Portland, Maine city officials told reporters Friday afternoon the man is a city staff member who works at the India Street Clinic, which provides a range of drug treatment services. They say the man his self-quarantining at home, but those who had contact with him at work have had to do the same thing.
“There are 23 other members of city staff who have come in contact with that individual, and 7 volunteers who have also self- quarantined as of now,” said City Manager John Jennings..
The India Street Clinic is now closed for at least two weeks.
And because some of those staff members also work in Portland City Hall, the City Hall was closed early on Friday afternoon “out of an abundance of caution." according to Jennings.
How long the City Hall will be closed isn’t clear. Jennings and other top staff were meeting late Friday and consulting with the Maine CDC.
The manager and Mayor Kate Snyder said other steps had already been taken, including canceling public events like the Portland Symphony, restricting visitors from the Barron Center, an elderly housing facility, and banning all cruise ship visits until May. Two ships are scheduled to visit in late April, but the manager says those ships will not be allow020ed to come into the harbor.