The day after the first total solar eclipse in Maine since the 1960s, the state’s major hospitals reported seeing no patients in emergency rooms with eye pain or damage from looking at the sun.
Maine Medical Center in Portland, Augusta-based MaineGeneral Health, Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Houlton Regional Hospital and Cary Medical Center in Caribou all reported not seeing a single patient with eye pain or damage from looking at the solar eclipse on Monday.
Central Maine Healthcare of Lewiston, which operates three hospitals, did not return requests for comment on Tuesday.
The slow day for emergency rooms came after the American Astronomical Society and other organizations advised eclipse watchers to wear specialized glasses when viewing the spectacle. The society also issued a warning about fake and counterfeit eclipse glasses polluting the market, adding further risk to the public.
Although people in Maine didn’t end up in emergency rooms, they were concerned enough to look for answers on Google, where searches for “eye damage” and similar queries spiked after the eclipse.
Looking at the sun without a special filter that’s built into eclipse glasses, even for a short time, can permanently damage a person’s retina and can lead to blindness, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Sunglasses also don’t offer enough protection.
The few minutes of totality when the moon completely obscures the sun is the only time an eclipse can be looked at without eye protection, the American Academy of Ophthalmology said. Otherise, all stages of a partial eclipse must be looked at through a special filter.
Alongside seeing no eye damage from the eclipse, only two hospitals reported welcoming babies into the world on the day of the eclipse, though none of the babies were born during the eclipse in Maine.
At Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, which is operated by MaineHealth, Nora Rose Donnell was born to parents Delaney and Alvah Donnell, both 23, of Winslow. Nora arrived at 10:30 a.m. Monday weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.
Though the parents had the name picked out in advance, Delaney said Nora means “shining light,” making it applicable for the day of the eclipse.
Nora arrived three weeks before her due date after Delaney was induced on Sunday. This is the family’s first child.
Though Delaney joked Nora arrived early “because she wanted to see the eclipse,” the family didn’t get to see the solar spectacle because, “we were a little preoccupied.”
Both mother and daughter were doing well and recovering in the Belfast hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.
Northern Light Health Care’s Inland Hospital in Waterville had two babies born on the day of the eclipse, though neither was born close to the time of the eclipse in Maine, said Amy Kenney, spokesperson for Northern Light Health.
