Gov. Janet Mills on Friday announced an economic reopening plan allowing more people to travel to Maine without COVID-19 tests or quarantine and relaxing capacity limits on stores and other venues while keeping safety protocols in place.
The announcement, which comes a week before the one-year anniversary of the first presumptive case of the virus in Maine, aims to boost Maine’s economy during the busy spring and summer tourism season, the governor said. Last year, the virus shut down key parts of the 2020 tourism season, with restaurants and hotels taking the brunt of the financial losses.
In a news conference on Friday, Mills said the plan gives businesses “a clear idea of what to expect” ahead of the tourism season. While she said Maine has seen one of the lowest case and death rates in the U.S., new variants taking hold or increases in cases in Maine or other states could cause the plan to be “dialed down.”READ MORE
The pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in Maine is slipping.
The state currently ranks about 26th among U.S. states for the percent of first doses administered. At the end of February, the state ranked 15th.
Maine CDC director Nirav Shah says his agency is working to understand why. But he says the addition of two new high-volume clinics this week in Sanford and Portland should help pick up the pace.READ MORE
Another 225 coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Friday.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 2,228. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s up from 2,137 on Thursday.
No new deaths were reported Friday, leaving the statewide death toll at 704. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention revised the death toll from 705 after a previously reported death of a man in his 60s from Oxford County did not meet the criteria to be considered a COVID-19-related death. READ MORE
The Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee endorsed a supplemental budget on an 8-5 party-line vote Thursday night that would give Maine businesses and unemployed Mainers a break from paying taxes on relief funds they received during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE
