BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 29, 2020
Frustrated businesses pressed Maine’s top economic development official Wednesday on how they will be able to restart under a reopening plan rolled out by Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday that includes quarantines for out-of-state tourists and runs through the late summer. Heather Johnson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, admitted that the quarantine provisions may not work as well in practice as in theory. “I think we may have misunderstood the complexity of the business side of some of this.” Steve Hewins, president and CEO of HospitalityMaine, cautioned that the harm to the hospitality industry could ripple through the entire Maine economy. With $8 billion in revenue in 2019 tourism employs one in 10 Mainers. “We’re at a virtual standstill,” he said.