By Randall Poulton Answer to question 2023.1: According to Mainebiz, MaineHealth, which includes Maine Medical Center in Portland, has over 20,000 employees. This makes MaineHealth the largest private sector employer in Maine. What company is number two in terms of number of employees? The answer is Hannaford is #2 with about 9,000 emplyees. Walmart is #3 and Bath Iron Works #4. LL Bean clocks in at #7. Jackson Lab is #15. A. Jackson Lab B. LL Bean C. Hannaford D. Walmart E. Bath Iron Works Correcting the Record: According to the body count published in the BDN, the number of COVID deaths in Maine for 2022 was 1,256. In a previous question, I estimated that the 2022 death count would be over 1,400. I was too high. However, I was correct that the number of COVID deaths in 2022 (1,256) would exceed the number of deaths in 2021 (1,197). So, to recap, now that almost all adult Mainers are vaccinated, more Mainers are dying – a typical outcome for a government program.