The number of infections and deaths from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to increase in Maine.

Following the lead of other governors, Dr. Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, former officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for 8 years, and now serving as the governor of Virginia since 2018, also declared a stay-at-home order, which will be in effect in Virginia for the next 70 days — extending into June. Other states have followed (including Maine); however, there are still states that haven’t yet enacted stay-at-home orders.

We’re very fortunate that there are some intelligent politicians in office — the lack of which has been most notable by the petty partisanship demonstrated by both Democrats and Republicans in recent years. Let’s just hope that those “leaders,” who are in charge of addressing this pandemic, will be more effective and proactive rather than being so ineffective and reactive — as they’ve been in the past when dealing with the challenges faced in the future.

And lest we not forget about Donald Trump, who has made chaos and combativeness the new White House normal with talks of hoax, fake news, hostile briefings, high rates of staff turnover and repetitive and empty rhetoric which he thinks will impress and convince his audiences. His wordiness and verbosity lack meaningful content, truth and genuine sincerity.

Louis Talarico, New Gloucester