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Poll results

Six months ago, on Feb. 11, Mainebiz noted early signs of the COVID-19 outbreak and polled readers to ask, "Is your business worried?"

Most respondents in our survey said no, they weren't concerned about supply tie-ups or other business problems because of the spreading disease.

At the time, 13 people across six states had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. No cases had yet been reported in Maine, although the state's Center for Disease Control and Prevention had just conducted its first test.

Half a year later, more than 5.1 million people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19 and at least 163,200 have died. In Maine, there have been 4,050 cases and 126 deaths, according to records updated Aug. 11.

Across the country and the state, the pandemic has also decimated the economy. Unemployment has skyrocketed, entire industries have nearly disappeared, and boom towns have become ghost towns.

 

SIx months from now, will the effects of COVID-19 be worse in Maine, or will the state be in better shape?
Worse, both in the health and economic effects of the pandemic on Maine (17%, 19 VOTES)
Maine will be coping better with health effects, but the economy will be worse (44%, 49 VOTES)
Maine will be coping better with economic effects, but the disease will be worse (7%, 8 VOTES)
Maine will be recovering from both the health and economic effects (32%, 36 VOTES)
Poll Description

Six months ago, on Feb. 11, Mainebiz noted early signs of the COVID-19 outbreak and polled readers to ask, "Is your business worried?"

Most respondents in our survey said no, they weren't concerned about supply tie-ups or other business problems because of the spreading disease.

At the time, 13 people across six states had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. No cases had yet been reported in Maine, although the state's Center for Disease Control and Prevention had just conducted its first test.

Half a year later, more than 5.1 million people in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19 and at least 163,200 have died. In Maine, there have been 4,050 cases and 126 deaths, according to records updated Aug. 11.

Across the country and the state, the pandemic has also decimated the economy. Unemployment has skyrocketed, entire industries have nearly disappeared, and boom towns have become ghost towns.

 

  • 112 Votes
  • 3 Comments
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3 Comments

  • Janet Wilson
    August 12, 2020

    I hope that we have learned from what has worked here and in other countries and will have a more measured, targeted response to new outbreaks, rather than shutting down entire states. If we do that, we should see less harm to the economy. As far as health goes, I think that we are going to continue to see ups and downs in numbers from the virus, but we need to stop overreacting as if this were the greatest threat we face. According to worldlifeexpectancy.com, the state of Maine has already seen 1490 deaths this year (as of today, Aug. 12th) due to heart disease, 962 deaths due to lung disease, etc. While every death is sad, 126 deaths kind of pales in comparison to the numbers dying from other causes. We need to stop living in fear, take reasonable precautions, and live our lives.

  • August 12, 2020

    Maine's tourism-related businesses have been hurt the worst, so many of them will not survive the winter without help/bailout from the government. Whether it is a vaccine, or the virus runs it's course, or we start realizing that most of the deaths were of people in hospice, there will have to come to a point where we get back to business ... after the election, of course!

  • August 12, 2020

    The virus isn't going away anytime soon. If a reliable vaccine is available in plentiful supply things will get better.