The day after the primary complete photo voltaic eclipse in Maine for the reason that Sixties, the state’s main hospitals reported seeing no sufferers in emergency rooms with eye ache or harm from wanting on the solar.
Maine Medical Heart in Portland, Augusta-based MaineGeneral Well being, Japanese Maine Medical Heart in Bangor, Houlton Regional Hospital and Cary Medical Heart in Caribou all reported not seeing a single affected person with eye ache or harm from wanting on the photo voltaic eclipse on Monday.
Central Maine Healthcare of Lewiston, which operates three hospitals, didn’t return requests for touch upon Tuesday.
The sluggish day for emergency rooms got here after the American Astronomical Society and different organizations suggested eclipse watchers to put on specialised glasses when viewing the spectacle. The society additionally issued a warning about pretend and counterfeit eclipse glasses polluting the market, including additional threat to the general public.
Though folks in Maine didn’t find yourself in emergency rooms, they had been involved sufficient to search for solutions on Google, the place searches for “eye harm” and related queries spiked after the eclipse.
Wanting on the solar and not using a particular filter that’s constructed into eclipse glasses, even for a short while, can completely harm an individual’s retina and may result in blindness, in line with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Sun shades additionally don’t provide sufficient safety.
The jiffy of totality when the moon utterly obscures the solar is the one time an eclipse will be checked out with out eye safety, the American Academy of Ophthalmology mentioned. Otherise, all levels of a partial eclipse should be checked out by way of a particular filter.
Alongside seeing no eye harm from the eclipse, solely two hospitals reported welcoming infants into the world on the day of the eclipse, although not one of the infants had been born through the eclipse in Maine.
At Waldo County Basic Hospital in Belfast, which is operated by MaineHealth, Nora Rose Donnell was born to folks Delaney and Alvah Donnell, each 23, of Winslow. Nora arrived at 10:30 a.m. Monday weighing 8 kilos 10 ounces and measuring 21 inches lengthy.
Although the dad and mom had the identify picked out prematurely, Delaney mentioned Nora means “shining gentle,” making it relevant for the day of the eclipse.
Nora arrived three weeks earlier than her due date after Delaney was induced on Sunday. That is the household’s first baby.
Although Delaney joked Nora arrived early “as a result of she wished to see the eclipse,” the household didn’t get to see the photo voltaic spectacle as a result of, “we had been just a little preoccupied.”
Each mom and daughter had been doing nicely and recovering within the Belfast hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.
Northern Gentle Well being Care’s Inland Hospital in Waterville had two infants born on the day of the eclipse, although neither was born near the time of the eclipse in Maine, mentioned Amy Kenney, spokesperson for Northern Gentle Well being.
