Starting on Monday, Mainers — and out-of-staters who’ve completed a 14-day quarantine in Maine — can stay at a hotel or other lodging establishment here.
But people in the industry say the rules for quarantine are both onerous and confusing.
Gov. Janet Mills’ reopening rules require out-of-state visitors to quarantine in Maine, but in a noncommercial setting. Bob Smith, who owns the Sebasco Harbor resort on the coast in Phippsburg, says the restrictions are overly broad, and that many people who are coming from out of state have already been self-isolating for weeks.
“Folks from out of state who have been either quarantining or locked down themselves for the last two months,” he says.
Smith says the 14-day rule is also nearly impossible for anyone who doesn’t have a summer home in Maine to stay in, and it sends a bad message.
“We’re painting a broad brush for everyone who’s out of state, and treating them like they’re lepers, and anyone who comes has the potential to make us all sick. And the message is not a good message,” he says.
The quarantine has already been challenged in court but has been upheld by a federal judge.
