Quarantine tourists in Vacationland? Maybe not, after all

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine leaders are considering a “layered” approach instead of a 14-day quarantine for tourists who might be bringing the coronavirus to the state, its top economic official said.

Lifting the quarantine order will probably require a blend of testing, symptom checks, public education, and adherence to industry-specific guidelines and protocols, Heather Johnson, the state’s commissioner of economic and community development, told the Bangor Daily News for a story Wednesday.

“When you layer all of those together, you create a mesh that is intended to capture and really mitigate that risk,” she said.

The administration of Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is working on a plan that incorporates several elements because there is no single answer to keeping residents healthy “when you go from 1.3 million people to 10 million people in a summer in Maine.”

Leaders of Maine’s tourism industry have tried unsuccessfully to overturn the 14-day quarantine order in federal court and have said they plan to appea.

In other coronavirus-related developments in Maine:

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UNEMPLOYMENT LAWSUIT

A work release inmate who lost his job because of the pandemic is suing to have his unemployment benefits reinstated.

)Mills put the kibosh on unemployment benefits for inmates after learning that 53 individuals had been paid $198,767, averaging $3,750 per inmate, since mid-March.

Mills called the benefit payments to inmates “appalling” and “bad public policy” despite a finding by the attorney general’s office that the payments were legal, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of an inmate at Bolduc Correctional Facility who had been working 45 hours a week at a restaurant.

“Governor Mills acted unilaterally and outside the scope of her executive authority to deprive qualified individuals of the funds to which they are legally entitled,” the lawsuit read.

The Associated Press