LIVERMORE FALLS — Maine has entered the next phase in the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a change in guidance from the national Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the administration of Maine Governor Janet Mills updated Maine’s mask mandate and physical distancing guidelines for vaccinated individuals on Friday, May 14.
The new Maine guidelines, which went into effect Monday, May 24, allow fully-vaccinated individuals “not to wear face coverings indoors.” Taking it a step further, Gov. Mills also removed “the physical distancing requirement at indoor public settings where people are eating or drinking and therefore would be removing their face covering” and subsequently the cap for the capacity of indoor gatherings.
However, it is still recommended that “people in Maine who are not fully vaccinated wear face coverings in indoor public settings.”
Residents of the Livermore Falls area had mixed feelings about these new guidelines on Wednesday evening in downtown Livermore Falls.
“I think it’s going to be hard for them to determine who’s been vaccinated and who hasn’t,” Jay-resident Erica Poland said of the new mandate for vaccinated individuals. Poland, a high-risk candidate for a severe COVID-19 case, said that she would have waited “until COVID was a little bit more controlled” to lift any mask mandates.
However, not all area residents are unhappy with the change in guidelines.
Abby Alaimo, a stay-at-home mother from Livermore, is looking forward to a return to the way life looked before the pandemic.
“I figure if (vaccinated individuals) are safe and they feel as though they should be able to take their masks off, then they should. It’s a little closer to normalcy,” Alaimo said.
Alaimo, who does not plan to be vaccinated, does not share the concerns that it will be hard to continue enforcing mask wearing among unvaccinated individuals.
“If you get your vaccine then you’re alright. I think it’s really up to people whether they want to take the precautions,” she said.
Joshua Perkins, a mechanic from Livermore Falls agrees and takes it a step farther.
“I don’t think we should have to wear masks, any of us,” he said. Perkins, who had COVID-19 and does not plan to be vaccinated, said he will only wear a mask where it is required.
Though Maine has the highest vaccination rate of all the states in America, Androscoggin County still lags behind in county vaccination rates while battling “the highest COVID-19 positivity rate of any county in Maine.” This raises concerns for some about the safety of bidding goodbye to masks based on a requirement built on trust.
Pauline Gagnon, owner of ice-cream stand Softie Delite in Livermore Falls feels similarly uncertain about the CDC’s “muddy” plan to “distinguish who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t been vaccinated.”
“They came out and announced that masks could come off and I think that’s all that people hear,” Gagnon said. “What I’m upset with is because it’s so undecisive on where you can wear a mask and where you can’t wear a mask, the federal government said you don’t have to wear a mask but the state says you still have to wear a mask.”
Gagnon’s concerns speak to a lack of updates on rules for how businesses should enforce mask-wearing among staff and customers. At publication, the Mills administration had still not announced updated guidelines for businesses, however those updates will reportedly be released in the coming days.
No matter the update, Gagnon plans to continue enforcing mask wearing at the ice cream stand.
“We have a lot of children that come here. We’re going to be wearing masks to protect our customers, to protect our children,” she said.
Like Gagnon, Poland plans to continue wearing her mask for the time being. Though the mandate has lifted, they will not be the only ones keeping their masks on.
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