Over the last week, the state of Maine’s guidelines around masking have been updated to reflect the encouraging reality of declining COVID-19 cases in the state. In typical fashion, Maine Republicans have tried to use the policy shift to attack Governor Mills’ handling of the pandemic, claiming in the Bangor Daily News and on Twitter that the shift was based on a political calculation, rather than in response to guidance from national and state public health authorities.
“Maine Republicans are projecting—they can’t imagine making decisions based on what’s good for Mainers instead of what helps them politically, so they’re assuming that’s also how Governor Mills operates,” said Gaetan Davis, Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party. “From the beginning of the pandemic, the Governor has listened to the experts and followed the science, and because of her leadership Maine has had one of the strongest responses to COVID in the nation. I’m thankful every day that Paul LePage and his friends at the Maine GOP weren’t in power during the pandemic so they could put politics ahead of what’s good for Maine’s public health.”
Despite Republican criticism, under Governor Mills’ leadership Maine has had some of the lowest COVID case and death rates in the country, as well as some of the highest vaccination and booster rates. In contrast, former Governor Paul LePage has touted a “laissez-faire” pandemic agenda, advocated for letting Maine’s kids get infected with the virus, and gutted Maine’s public health system when he was in office.
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