NORWAY — After all three employees tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month at the Cut Loose hair salon on Fair Street, the salon reopened Tuesday.
The outbreak was announced by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday as part of its regular media briefing. Cut Loose was one of 11 outbreaks reported by CDC Director Nirav Shah.
That outbreak list also included Dirigo Elementary School in Peru, where there are six cases. That school is part of Regional School Unit 56, which has also seen COVID-19 cases at Dirigo High School and T W Kelly Dirigo Middle School, both in Dixfield. All three schools are closed until Jan. 4.
Cut Loose owner Tova Millett said Wednesday that she and her two employees contracted the virus earlier this month, likely from a client who hadn’t been showing symptoms during her three-hour appointment but who did become sick the next day and later tested positive. Both the employees and the client were wearing masks.
The salon shut down last week.
“Thankfully, every one of us had very minor symptoms,” Millett said.
Cut Loose reopened Tuesday after a deep clean and following consultations with doctors and the Maine CDC.
Wednesday marked a new high for COVID-19 cases in Maine, with 551 new reports statewide. There were also two deaths, a man in his 80s from Oxford County and a woman in her 80s from Androscoggin County.
While cases continue to surge and outbreaks multiply, at least one recent outbreak seems contained. The Lewiston Police Department reported 16 cases last week, all but one among officers. Since then, 13 of those officers have fully returned to work and the two remaining are expected to return soon, according to a department spokesman.
The department has had no new cases.
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