Outbreak related to Woodland mill leads to 19 testing positive

A total of 19 people have tested positive for COVID-19 -- including four people from Washington County -- following an outbreak related to the Woodland Pulp mill, as of October 6. According to the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC), three of the other cases are among Maine residents in different counties and 12 are from other states. The total includes 14 contractors, mostly from out of state, two Woodland Pulp employees and three household members, one linked to the outside contractor and two to Woodland Pulp.
In response to the outbreak, the Calais Regional Hospital (CRH) has been collecting swab samples for testing, both at the swab and send site at the hospital and at the Woodland mill. Between September 28 and October 2 the hospital collected about 700 samples. As of October 7 all results had been received for those swab samples with no additional positive results. On October 5, over 100 additional swab samples were collected at the swab and send site, and another 67 were collected the next day. Only five of the October 5 samples were still pending on October 7, with no additional positive results. A precautionary retest had been requested for 14 Woodland Pulp employees who had the highest potential for contact with the positive cases. Of those, two results were negative and 12 were pending, as of October 7.
The outbreak was first identified last week, when seven of the contractors, who were mostly from out of state and were working at the Woodland mill during its annual maintenance shutdown, tested positive for COVID-19 after they left Maine. According to Scott Beal, spokesman for Woodland Pulp, the seven employees of Miller Mechanical Services of Glens Falls, N.Y., had been working at the mill starting on September 21 and had left on September 24 and 25.
Beal says mill officials were concerned about the potential that Woodland Pulp employees and others in the area may have been exposed to the virus and has since had all of its employees tested. That testing occurred on September 30 and October 1, with staff from Calais Regional Hospital and the St. Croix Regional Family Health Center of Princeton on site at the mill to collect swabs from the more than 400 workers.
Beal points out that the mill continues to promote adherence to the CDC guidelines for COVID-19. The contractors, though, were not pre-tested prior to arriving at the mill.
In a briefing on October 1 about COVID-19 cases in Maine, Dr. Nirav Shah, the Maine CDC director, stated that an epidemiological investigation of the cases related to the Woodland mill is being conducted, and he noted that one of the seven contract workers is from Maine, one from Louisiana and five from New York state. He pointed out that the state is seeing a continued spread of COVID-19 to areas of the state where there had been few cases and there is now starting to be an uptick in those counties, including Washington County. "The virus is in every part of the state," he said, adding that "each and every one of us is potentially vulnerable to it."
As of October 6, the Maine CDC listed 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among those living in Washington County, with six being active. Before the outbreak, the number of confirmed cases in the county was 16, with two being active.
In a Facebook posting, the Calais hospital stated, "With this positive exposure in our area, we urge everyone to remain calm and not panic. Not everyone needs to be tested, and conducting testing without cause could delay testing for someone who meets the criteria and possibly [be] an unknown positive."
The state recently broadened its standing order on testing for COVID-19 to allow anyone in Maine to get a test without the need for a separate order from a healthcare provider. However, the hospital urges people to remember that, according to the CDC, the considerations for those who should get tested are: those who have symptoms; people who have had close contact of being within six feet for at least 15 minutes with a confirmed case; or those referred by their healthcare provider or state health department. The swab and send testing site outside the Calais hospital is open every weekday morning from 8 to 10 a.m. The hospital asks that people not come to the hospital to request a COVID-19 test during other hours. Dr. Shah noted that having the swab and send site at the Calais hospital helped with mobilizing testing at the mill.
The hospital advises that patients who are sick with symptoms and need emergency treatment should call 911 and call into the emergency department prior to arrival so that appropriate precautionary measures can be taken to protect other patients and emergency personnel.
In a Facebook post, the hospital states, "If you are considered a close contact of a person who has tested positive for COVID 19, please follow CDC guidelines and quarantine. The CDC defines a close contact as being within six feet for 15 minutes or more with a confirmed COVID 19 case while symptoms were present or within 48 hours of symptom onset. Quarantine means you must stay home. Do not go to public places and do not have visitors in your home."
The hospital's posting continued, "We encourage everyone to remain vigilant to the practices of wearing a mask, washing hands often, social distancing, staying home with symptoms and self isolation to curb the potential spread of the virus and keep people healthy."
Concerns in St. Stephen
About seven workers cross the St. Croix River from Canada every day to work at the mill in Baileyville, raising concern about the possibility of bringing COVID 19 across the border to the St. Stephen area.
"Yes, I'm concerned," St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern says. "I consider that our area. Even though it's American soil, that's our next door neighbor. What happens over there, as you know, can happen here, on our doorstep," he says. He urges people to stick to rules on social distance, face masks, washing hands frequently and going to the grocery store weekly, not daily. "If you get relaxed a little bit like some of us have done, it's time to step up the game and follow the guidelines and we should be OK."
MacEachern did not believe that any workers at the mill from the St. Stephen area tested positive for COVID 19. New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Jennifer Russell, said in a news release on October 3 that she was not aware that any of the confirmed cases from the mill posed any threat to St. Stephen residents. She said in her most recent live streamed update, on October 1, that anyone from New Brunswick or Maine identified as close contacts of the confirmed cases would be told to self isolate for 14 days.
The provincial, state and federal health authorities in both countries are cooperating with each other and with municipal, school and local health authorities on both sides of the border to contain this outbreak, both MacEachern and Russell said.
Russell and Premier Blaine Higgs said in the live-streamed update that this outbreak in Maine so close to St. Stephen and an upsurge in Quebec demonstrate why New Brunswick cannot let down its guard if the province hopes to remain in the yellow phase of the provincial recovery plan. Higgs said the provincial government will likely make wearing masks mandatory at indoor locations where people cannot keep two meters apart.
MacEachern urges people to treat "with respect" their neighbors who earn their living in Maine. "You've got to be kind. It could be any one of us that have that happen," he says. "We all have a chance of contracting COVID 19."
As of October 5, there were five active COVID 19 cases in New Brunswick, including two new ones reported that day, one in Zone 2 (Saint John) including Charlotte County and the other in Zone 1 (Moncton). This brings the total to date to 203, including two deaths.
(Derwin Gowan contributed to this article.)