With only a month left until Labor Day, Maine lawmakers and tourism leaders have urged the governor to ease restrictions to allow more out-of-state visitors.
People from five Eastern states are currently exempt from Maine’s quarantine order and are not required to have proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Republican legislators want Gov. Janet Mills to extend that to states with less than 5 percent positivity rates, including Massachusetts, which was at 2.9 percent as of Thursday.
Currently, the state is open to visitors from Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Vermont, all of which are at 2 percent or below for positive COVID test rates.
“Thousands of jobs and small businesses are suffering because of overly restrictive and unnecessary policies,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, said at a news conference last week, WMTW reported. “The Republican plan is based in facts, common sense, and most of all transparency. We urge our colleagues across the aisle to support it and do what is best for Maine people and to establish a clear and transparent policy with benchmark numbers similar to New York and Rhode Island.”
In a news release last week, the governor offered no timeline for loosening restrictions.
State tourism leaders are concerned the testing requirements for nonexempt visitors take too long.
“Even the rapid response site down in York – York Hospital – great idea, but it’s two weeks to get an appointment,” Steve Hewins, CEO of HospitalityMaine, told WMTW.
Many destinations are seeing a steep decline in bookings.
Eben Salvatore of Bar Harbor Resorts, which has 700 rooms, urged the state to help salvage the summer season.
“Open the door, let them come, and let’s see what’s left,” Salvatore told WMTW. “As it is, we’ve had how many millions of people come in and out of our state? There’s no rise in cases, there’s no dramatic increase, we know that we can perform as safe as we can.”
