Various areas of Maine, including the Bangor International Airport, are reimplementing mask mandates due to changes in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) transmission map.
The CDC’s map currently has several Maine counties, including Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Sagadahoc, in a “high risk” level, recommending them to “wear a mask indoors.”
As a result, some of the areas are making changes. The Bangor International Airport in Penobscot County, for example, is now requiring travelers to wear masks in the airport due to the CDC’s changes, despite the ruling from the federal Trump-appointed judge who alleviated Americans from the burden of the Biden administration’s forced masking rule.
The airport’s rule went into effect May 9 and follows others around the country.
File/People enter wearing masks at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“Masks are required inside Airport buildings due to the Maine CDC’s designation of Penobscot County to Red (high risk level). All people who enter BGR facilities MUST wear a face covering, regardless of vaccination status,” the airport announced.
“The City of Bangor will continue to follow CDC protocols. Should the CDC change the risk level to YELLOW or GREEN, the City will return to an optional masking policy,” it added.
The city of Portland also brought back some mask mandates due to the change in the CDC’s map.
“Because the CDC has increased Cumberland County’s COVID risk level from LOW to HIGH, we are reimplementing masking requirements immediately for all staff and the public while inside City buildings and employee spaces,” the city wrote May 6:
According to WMTW, “The National Park Service also announced Monday that masks are now required for everyone inside all buildings at Acadia National Park, based on the current CDC guidance.”
Currently, there are no statewide mask mandates in effect in the U.S.