Release: Maine Policy Statement on Gov. Mills’ optional masking announcement
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2022
Contact: Jacob Posik
Director of Communications
Office: 207.321.2550
Maine Policy Institute Statement on Mills Administration’s
Optional Masking Announcement
PORTLAND, Maine – Maine Policy Institute CEO Matthew Gagnon issued this statement today following the Mills administration’s announcement about optional masking in schools and childcare settings starting March 9, 2022:
“Today’s announcement is long overdue. Governor Mills took unprecedented action during the pandemic to close our schools and force young children to wear masks for months. Even when the statewide mandate was lifted and the scientific evidence was clear that masking had little impact on transmission in these settings–particularly amid the Omicron wave–her administration continued to defer to outdated, unscientific CDC guidance. She waited many months longer than she needed to be a leader and do what was best for students and families–give them a choice.
“It will take years, perhaps decades, to overcome the harm we’ve caused to children over the last two years due to the various and unnecessary pandemic restrictions. Maine children should never again be subject to masking rules for COVID-19, and Maine parents should never forget who forced their kids into isolation and prolonged, unnecessary mask wearing. Kids have always been at the lowest risk from COVID-19, but that didn’t stop the adults in the governor’s administration from forcing the burden of the pandemic upon them.”
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Maine Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to expand individual liberty and economic freedom in Maine. Learn more about our work at www.mainepolicy.org.