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Gov. Janet Mills is contemplating tightening a number of the state’s indoor gathering limits and out-of-state journey necessities as coronavirus instances spike to report ranges in Maine.
A Mills spokesperson, Lindsay Crete, stated the Democratic governor will seemingly make an announcement in regards to the potential adjustments this weekend.
“Like most Maine households, Governor Mills may be very apprehensive in regards to the unfold of this lethal virus as we face colder climate and holidays that typically encourage gatherings of all kinds,” Crete stated. “Sadly, if we don’t every take aggressive actions, this virus would be the uninvited visitor to our household dinners and social gatherings.”
The information comes because the state grapples with a surge in COVID-19 instances. Maine marked report numbers of latest day by day instances for the final three days, with Friday’s quantity — 119 — being the first to hit triple digits. The virus can be spreading everywhere in the state, with a rising portion of instances now tied to small casual gatherings slightly than to massive institutional outbreaks.
The state had loosened the seating limits on eating places, church buildings and film theaters on Oct. 13 and was set to permit a restricted reopening of bars and tasting rooms beginning Monday. It additionally just lately moved Massachusetts onto an inventory of northeastern states whose residents are capable of journey to Maine with out quarantining for 2 weeks or displaying proof of a detrimental take a look at.
The virus can simply unfold when folks collect with out masks indoors, whether or not to eat, drink, worship or socialize. Instances have been climbing throughout the entire nation, together with in all the northeastern states now exempt from Maine’s journey limits: Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire
On Thursday, Boston College epidemiologist Dr. Robert Horsburgh Jr. told the BDN that Maine should cancel its anticipated reopening of bars and reimpose some indoor gathering restrictions after the brand new spike in instances, which adopted a lifting of seating capability in eating places, church buildings and film theaters lower than three weeks in the past.
“You’ll be able to loosen restrictions, and if instances go up, it’s best to again off,” Horsburgh said previously. “You need to tighten again down once more, and hopefully that will probably be sufficient, however perhaps it’s good to clamp down extra severely to maintain folks from circulating.”
Maine has additionally tightened its mask-wearing mandate in current weeks, however Horsburgh stated that will not be efficient.
It’s “actually NOT the time to open bars. By definition, it isn’t potential to go to bars and eating places and put on a masks while you’re there, so this works in opposition to the stricter advisory on sporting masks,” he stated.
Mills did not give any indication she was planning to reverse the state’s financial reopening after repeated questions on it throughout a information convention earlier this week.
“This isn’t about shutting down one thing,” Mills stated on Wednesday. “That is about hunkering down. It’s about folks getting again into the bunker basically, doing what widespread sense dictates and tells them to do. It’s not about my issuing an order right this moment. It’s not about my telling folks after they can or can’t store or open a enterprise or go to highschool. It’s about everyone utilizing widespread sense and getting this factor underneath management.”
Mainers have typically supported the state’s coronavirus restrictions, and consultants have credited their sluggish rollout with serving to to maintain new an infection charges among the many lowest within the nation. However the state’s hospitality trade has stated they’re overly burdensome.
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