On Friday, Governor Janet Mills unveiled a plan to protect public health and support Maine’s economy as the state approaches its busy spring and summer tourism season.

The plan, Moving Maine Forward maintains health and safety protocols that have protected Maine people over the past year, establishes a clear timeframe to increase capacity limits to support economic activity, and standardizes these limits across sectors by transitioning to a simple model based on percentage of capacity. The plan also revises Maine’s travel policies established last summer under the Keep Maine Healthy Program and sets a target reopening date of March 26 for indoor service at bars.

The new, multi-month plan, which reflects the stabilization of Maine’s COVID-19 metrics and progress in vaccinations, aims to provide clarity and predictability for Maine people and businesses to plan for the summer months and establish Maine as a safe place to visit.

The Moving Maine Forward Plan is composed of the following three parts:

Maintaining Critical Public Health Protocols: The plan maintains the critical public health and safety protocols – like wearing face coverings, keeping physical distance, and conducting enhanced cleaning – implemented in part through COVID-19 Prevention Checklists and requirements for Maine schools. These industry-specific protocols, which are critical to keeping business and school operations safe for Maine people, will remain in effect throughout the summer.

Simplifying & Standardizing Capacity Limits and Establishing A Clear Timeframe: The plan transitions Maine’s capacity limits from hard caps in most situations to a straightforward percentage of capacity model consistent across all sectors. It also establishes a clear timeframe to increase these capacity limits, providing Maine businesses with predictability to plan. The timeframe and capacity adjustments are as follows:

  • For indoor gatherings, the percentage of capacity will increase to 50 percent starting March 26 and 75 percent starting May 24.
  • For outdoor gatherings, the percentage of capacity will increase to 75 percent starting March 26 and 100 percent starting May 24.
  • Those businesses that have more capacity under the current policy (50 people for indoor gatherings; 100 people for outdoor gatherings; or 5 people per 1,000 square feet) are permitted to maintain that standard until May 24.

Further, these new capacity targets can be dialed down – for example, from 75 percent capacity to 50 percent capacity – if Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) determines hospital capacity is at risk or if a new variant strain poses a significant risk to public health in Maine.

The plan also establishes a target reopening date of March 26, 2021 for Maine bars and tasting rooms which will be required to operate under the Seated Food and Drink COVID-19 Checklist.

Updating Maine’s Travel Policy: Last summer, through its Keep Maine Healthy Program, Maine was one of the first states to implement a test or quarantine requirement, a policy replicated by a substantial number of states. This new plan updates and targets Maine’s travel policy through both immediate and long-term updates that reflect changes since last summer, most notably including the introduction of vaccines.

Effective immediately, the plan:

  • Adds Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island to the list of states exempt from the test or quarantine requirement. New Hampshire and Vermont had previously been exempt. These states have reduced their positivity and active case rates.
  • Exempts those who have either recently had COVID-19 or been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, regardless of their state of origin, from the test or quarantine requirement. Federal requirements related to international travel, however, remain in effect.

Effective May 1 the plan:

  • Shifts Maine’s COVID-19 travel policy requirements from an “all states included, unless exempt” model to an “all states exempt, unless included” model. This means that travelers from all states are automatically exempt unless otherwise determined by the Maine CDC.
  • Under this new model, the Maine CDC will be charged with identifying states that have a high prevalence of highly contagious COVID-19 variants. If one or more states see a spike in variant cases, Maine will apply its test or quarantine requirement to travelers to and from that state. This more targeted approach will remain in effect through the summer.

To date, Maine has administered 391,148 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. 253,135 people, or nearly 19 percent of residents, have gotten first doses and 138,013 people, or more than 10 percent of residents, have received final doses.

Despite having the oldest median age population in the country, Maine, adjusted for population, ranks second lowest in the nation in total hospitalizations, third lowest in total number of cases, and fourth lowest in number of deaths from COVID-19, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. The state’s seven-day testing volume is eighth best in the nation and the state’s positivity rate over the past fourteen days is second lowest in the nation.


Megan Diver

Megan has worked in Maine politics for more than ten years and all of her professional career, having served in many roles for elected officials (including former Secretary of State Charlie Summers), in-house with the Maine Association of REALTORS®, legislative specialist at Pierce Atwood LLP providing lobbying services and support to Pierce Atwood’s government relations clients and most recently senior government relations specialist at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. Megan currently is the Vice President at the Maine Energy Marketers Association, utilizing her vast knowledge and legislative experience at the State House to represent MEMA on policies relating to the Association and its members.