As holiday shopping season gets underway, Maine resumes quarantine for Mass. visitors

Photo / William Hall On Sunday afternoon, the eve of the quarantine resumption for Massachusetts visitors, some appeared to be shopping at L.L.Bean Inc. in Freeport.

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By William Hall

Beginning Monday, travelers from Massachusetts must again comply with Maine’s requirement to “quarantine or test” as a means to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Although they briefly had been exempt, Gov. Janet Mills on Friday said that reimposing the rule was a response to “an alarming increase in prevalence of the virus” among Massachusetts residents.

“To preserve our ability to travel while protecting the health of our loved ones no matter where they live, visitors from Massachusetts and Maine people returning from Massachusetts must now test negative for COVID-19 or quarantine when coming to Maine,” Mills said in a statement.

Steve Hewins, president and CEO of trade group HospitalityMaine, told Mainebiz on Monday that while resumption of the rule wasn’t unexpected, it was disappointing.

“We have so many ties to Massachusetts, not just for visitors, but also relatives, friends and employees. Coming at the beginning of the holiday period and at the start of the winter sports season, this is going to hit hard, especially with the ski resorts that are ramping up,” he said. “We hope the infection rates will recede, and this will only need to be a temporary measure.”

In April, during the first weeks of the pandemic, Mills issued an executive order requiring quarantine of all visitors to the state. But in June the rule was modified to allow those from New Hampshire or Vermont to cross the Maine border without restriction. Residents of three other Northeastern states were also allowed to enter as long as they’d taken a recent test showing no exposure to coronavirus.

In July, the test requirement was lifted for visitors from Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Only two states within a day’s drive of Bangor stayed on Maine’s mandatory quarantine list: Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The exclusion — especially of Massachusetts, a leading source of tourists and tourism revenue for Maine — met strong resistance from many businesses in the state. In September, Massachusetts was added to the exempt list.

But on Friday, Mills said a spike in COVID-19 cases there had led her and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to take back the exemption.

She cited a positivity rate for COVID-19 testing in Massachusetts of 2.5% and an incidence rate of 3,384 new cases per million over the last 14 days. While Maine too has seen upticks, she said, they remained significantly less: a positive test rate of 1.8% and incidence of 1,350 new cases per million over the past two weeks.

“As Maine strives to respond to widespread community spread everywhere in the state, this decision reduces the likelihood of one potential way the virus could be introduced,” said CDC Director Dr. Nirav D. Shah. “Visitors from Massachusetts can quarantine or take advantage of expanded testing options to help limit potential transmission of the virus and help keep us all safer.”

The rule change comes amid a dizzying array of similar changes among Northeastern states, as the pandemic accelerates and case counts rise nationwide.

Massachusetts last week removed residents of New York, Washington and Washington, D.C., from the Bay State’s own quarantine exemption list. Two weeks ago, Massachusetts took Connecticut and New Jersey off the list, days after they'd done the same for Massachusetts.

Despite the lack of reciprocity, Maine is now just one of four states whose residents don’t have to quarantine in Massachusetts. The other three are Hawaii, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Connecticut, however, doesn’t exempt Maine — but extends the privilege to New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to rules updated last week. New Hampshire is more open, allowing any New England resident to visit without quarantining or testing negative.

Vermont, where the incidence of COVID-19 remains the lowest in the country, last week imposed perhaps the most drastic rule of all. According to a Nov. 10 regulation, quarantining is now required for travelers, including returning Vermonters, from any state.

On Monday, the CDC reported that Maine had recorded a total of 9,117 cases since the start of the pandemic, and a total of 165 deaths.