People from every other state will be able to travel to Maine without needing to quarantine or having a negative coronavirus test when the state relaxes its travel guidelines this Saturday, public health officials said Tuesday.
Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah said that may change as the tourism season progresses, particularly if a particular state sees a high number of variant strains causing cases to increase. If health officials deem a particular state high risk, residents of those states will have to quarantine upon arriving in Maine or have a negative coronavirus test result.
Shah attributed the decision to a successful summer tourist season last year that saw a drop in cases and the continual effort to get people vaccinated. Maine has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, according to a New York Times tracker.
“The likelihood that any one individual may pose a risk to someone here in Maine goes down commensurately,” he said.
Travelers from New England are currently allowed to travel to the state without having to quarantine for 10 days, as are those who are either fully vaccinated or have had COVID-19 in the last 90 days.