'It's Great To Live In Rural Maine,' Where Cases Are Low And Schools Are Open

Sixth-grader Charlie Pierce says the hardest part of going back to school wasn't the masks or the temperature checks. It was not being able to hug the friends she hadn't seen in months.

"My friends kind of really wanted to hug me," Charlie says.

"We had talked about keeping our distance," her mom, Ami Pierce, adds, "because we are huggers by nature."

Charlie and her mom live in Aroostook County, Maine, near the Canadian border. Even after reports of an outbreak at a wedding reception, Maine has one of the country's lowest daily case rates of COVID-19, and Aroostook County has reported fewer than 40 cases since March. In mid-August, Charlie's school district, MSAD 42, opened its doors for in-person learning.