I have been accused of same by kayamedic. But l agree w her on this one.
There are a two things that l will not do this year because of the additional stress on the population from virus and associated downturn. My decisions of where l might have to consider a higher level of risk are from having spent time in that area for nearly 30 years. Basically any situation that is already a smidge risky, l figure the current issues take it over the top.
But l will equally happily park my car with dreaded NY plates in a number of places allowing me to manage a comfortable stay, including patronizing local stores and restaurants. Because I know my NY plate will have a lot of company with other out of state plates.
It just comes down to having a feel for an area.
Wolf, while l am here l should add that l donāt see the need to kill yourself driving thru. I just cancelled reservations for an event in NC. The event was postponed because the virus adds too many complications to let it be what they would have hoped. Driving thru adds stress and risks tired driving accidents.
l could have driven (one night in motel) or flown. And crashed nearby to take the load off a relativeās household. Either were easy enough to do. The only planning part would have been to assess how many of some state run rest stops were open for gas. But trucks are still running, so there are enough stations open to manage a normal driving range.
Yes, mask whenever l was not in the car but that is true here and Mills just added it for Maine. Gloves and or hand sanitizer. Pick your hotel carefully and take an am and pm shower. In fact just about all of them are open and begging for customers. If you want to specify getting a room that has been vacant for a few days easy. Take out food but a couple of Taco Bell or Mickey D days wonāt kill anyone.
It will be difficult to manage time away this season. Anyone who thinks otherwise probably needs a keeper. But if it an area and a routine you already know, it can work without impossible accommodations.
Article here, this is the most critical piece for this discussion. I expect it will be a pattern most places, basically allowing out of staters to do essential activities but wear appropriate protection. It begs the question of what changes after 2 weeks since so many events are shut down or how urgent locals will feel this is. But as long as I have mine on I can live with that.
And a subsequent add, this does not solve the problem for traditional hotel/motel situations. It does handle the situation for many cottage rentals, the VRBO crowd, which is considerable.
āGovernor Mills says out-of-staters can still go to the grocery store or pharmacy if they need something, as long as they are not sick and are wearing a face covering.ā
Weāve actually driven through several times before. 13 hours isnāt bad in summer daylight but you have to avoid northeast traffic. Best to drive on Saturday, arriving in Maine late Saturday afternoon when all of the weekend visitors are already firmly installed, and the day trippers returning to Mass are going the other way. Audio books are essential. A benefit this time is that a cooler of frozen food will still be cold when we get there. We intend to respect the quarantine rules and bring 2-3 weeks worth of food.
As far as others considering traveling to Maine, lodging and how to handle the 14 day quarantine are clearly the big variables for the usual vacation visitor. So thereās a lot of uncertainty around any planning now. The only reason weāre already making plans is that we own the place in Maine and the governorās order specifically allows for āproperty owners ā¦ returning to Maine as the weather
warmsā¦ā.
Celia - thanks for finding that clarification for out-of-staters. That provides an option to get food. But I think weāll still bring as much as we can since going out does increase risk for us and those we interact with.
FWIW, I have already been in contact with a couple of local food resources about curbside pickup. One is already planning on it, the other is heading that way. If you are a known customer, you may want to make a call. The first place I spoke with is only saying maybe yes for people they already know because of concerns over bodies. It is a farm stand and right now the 7 people they always bring in for the growing season are stuck in Brazil with paperwork but as yet no way to get out of the country. I am in as long as I return the deposit form, but anyone who calls in late June may not be.
I plan to bring food this year myself, for a few reasons including that I may drive thru Massachusetts. But anyone can forget something and frankly, carrying two weeks of food is much more feasible for a couple or so adults than anyone trying to come with younger kids. Complete purity on this kind of thing requires physical space that not everyone has.
(My place is going to rent as long as they are allowed to. Like most family owned places will out of necessity.)
I actually feel for all of you. The news conference today by Mills and Dr Shah was unequivocal. No going outside during the quarantine. She alludes to travelers coming from high exposure states. You must stay inside for 14 days. As of todays rules that is that I hope changes.
I would love to hug my kids but I cannot for the foreseeable future unless I go to a high exposure state ( NY NJ and CT) and I am in the high risk category.
Per the Guv the first priority is protecting higher risk Mainers. We are the oldest age state in the nation. And we are among the five lowest states in the US for CV-19 cases . 1100. Cases. Not fatalities
That said I am not looking kindly at the house down the street where the residents are from FL and Utah and running amok maskless. The actual owners are still in FL and the people there are friends of there here to āfeel safeā
You will understand why I really do not want to see you now. Bill Nemitz of PPH put it this way eloquently
Have pretty much written off going up to western ME camp this summer. Called my neighbors to check in and also to wish them happy (our shared) birthdays coming up. Neighbors for nearly 30 years, we were all young and vibrant. Now, both of them have pre-existing health conditions and are extremely high risk. Pre-COVID, I have already lost several of my camp neighbors to age related health issues. I am not inclined to risk the two really close (proximity and socially) neighbors I have left up there. Heck, I am probably āhigh riskā too, given that I am now past my six decade (hmmā¦ how did that happen?!?).
If things cooled down in the Fall, I may consider going up but I am not betting on it. I will stay in touch with my neighbors by phone periodically. Meanwhile, Iāll keep to paddling locally and flyfishing the trout streams in MA . While instate rivers lack the big and wild trout of the Rapid River and upper Androscoggin that had led me getting my place (a "piece of heaven) in ME, these modest trout rivers got me into flyfishing and the appreciation of flowing waters and almost always beautiful surrounding environment. These will do fine in these pandemic times.
We all have to make difficult decisions and no doubt feel imprisoned in a way.
I am impressed by the thoughtfulness of my fellow paddlers trying to make their own personal decisions.
While we enjoy what can be a solitary pursuit ( and I bet most of us like paddling that way) we are mindful of others.
Finding the right path for each of our circumstances is difficult and while we are badgered with the " we are all in this together" we all are not in the same situation. But we do have to think of others.
Those folks at the Sunday River brewery rile me with their I am going to do it because I am most important view.
The strict quarantine requirement is probably needed to get potential visitors to take this seriously. I imagine that there are plenty of people like Kayamedicās āguestsā from Florida and Utah that donāt bother to think about their possible impact on others. Those same folks probably didnāt wear masks or take any precautions when they stopped at rest stops and gas stations on their way to Maine either.
Sounding like a broken record but they have to make up their minds. And release something consistent for local authorities. I feel for county sheriffs, motel owners etc if they see or get phone calls about non-compliant summer visitors and they donāt have a very clear set of parameters in hand. The local authorities are the bottom of the food chain in actually making this work.
The older population in Maine is a huge risk. I will not able be to visit with or go in any of the three residences occupied by the senior generation in the enclave, who have been more a part of my nearly 30 years there than their offspring. I donāt want to have to go inside the favorite farm stand or the local market for the same reason. I am no spring chicken but I am a bit younger than some of these folks.
There are ways that some states have handled this that I find a little frustrating to see slow to emerge here.
First was, which finally did happen, was to require wearing a mask and make it a fineable offense. At least I I think it is the latter upon the latest updates.
I donāt plan to use launches myself this year, it is one of the two things I will not be doing. But I WANT them to have a way to check that any out of state plates at launches have met the 2 weeks. I can think of things that are not a huge burden, like dropping off something like an indication of being an owner or a rental agreement at the harbormasterās office so they can gauge which plates have been there for the 14 days. But none of that is going to proceed if they are still unable to clarify the 14 days.
Next one is to try and put some resources under local places to help them operate via curbside pickup. In at least one state local law enforcement folks and /or National Guard were helping to restock groceries - leaving more regular staff available for the curbside operation. I donāt recall which. But it was an excellent way to help food grocery stores and the like stay alive financially while maintaining safe distances.
If tourism in Maine was 0.1% of the economy this would be overreach. But various figures have it involving at least 16% and up to 40% of the workers in the state and equally impressive portions of state revenues. The summer season and its influx is a pretty well established time period, in most of Maine the major push happens in about 7 weeks between July 4 and the start of school in late August. They can have some tourism and eat it too so to speak if they get aggressive now.
I agree on the Sunday River thing by the way. But (later update) Mills handled it - their liquor license was revoked yesterday.There are people being fools thatāll hurt someone all over the place, the latest one in my mind being the guys who entered the legislative chambers in Michigan armed with assault rifles. God bless the Governor for not backing down so far, I am sure she has death threats coming in.
I truly wish the US citizenry had better habits for a pandemic than it seems we do. But there are ways to thread this needle as long as everyone understands that some thing swill have to wait.
I donāt feel like at a huge risk at all. I am not in extended care. Nor in a crowded setting. Personally I feel more at risk from suicidal thoughts as there is no legal way I can see my kids or grandkids. They do not have time to come here and self quarantine before giving me a hug. I donāt however want to go to more Covid affected CT where they live.
Pick one. Isolation from family or risk of dying. I will accept my mortality. I think the self quarantining is dumb dumb dumb. Monitoring via a QR code makes more sense and we would accept a visit from a National Guard person.
It will be eight months since the last time I saw grandkids if this order continues.
Kayamedic I was not talking about you, or any individual. I was talking about the general population. In senior facilities, the older folks that form the backbone of many emergency services in rural areas like the firefighter they lost in Waldoboro, the folks that are running so many of the businesses or volunteering at museums and at classical programs and running many of the land conservancies. Apparently not too visible to this kayaking crowd, but the cultural stuff is a decent chunk of local economies in Maine and other areas like the Berkshires. And a ton of these bodies are retired.
Much of what is being talked about in this thread is or soon will be an issue for seaside or mountain area towns in every state in the northeast, both the economic impact and the tendency of the population to be older. None of this is personal - it is a set of problems that will be shared by a ton of places.
I donāt recall seeing this article before, which indicates that Maine officials very much want to get to some means of dealing with out of state visitors that isnāt as restrictive as the current quarantine order. Hereās some text:
āWould out of state residents be able to come for a weekend at their own camp or cottage, stay and go home? Could they do a few quarantine days in a rental? What about campers?ā
āJohnson and Dr. Nirtav Shah of the Maine CDC said they will be studying a range of options that could help reduce or even eliminate the need for self0quarantine, but those discussions are just starting. Both said they hope to find alternatives that can protect public health while encouraging more visitors.ā
of course Dr Shah said the current restrictions are crude and starting with the sledgehammer approach and not at all final. His program is the one I watch every dayā¦ I find him rational and not arrogant and speaks plainly and with compassion. I would love a President and VP team of him and Dr Fauci.
Celia all our Maine plans are personal. Each one of us has different personal decisions to make and you have been wrassling with this from day one in your posts. That is absoultely normal and thanks for sharing.
The findings have not been released by the ME on cause of death of the firefighter. His wife is a CNA at Tall Pines which had a horrid outbreak and she tested positive IIRC. Goes to show you this disease seems to affect the ones who have to work the lowest paying service jobs. He may have died of a heart attack or a combination.
For me mass gatherings are the scariest. And I always look forward to the Common Ground Fair, the Cumberland Fair and the Fryeburg Fair( because it is darned close). So far they have not decided to close( whew!)
Both Gov Mills and Dr Shah says they will be led by science.
Not all are happy of course. His premature opening came at a cost
I am seeing articles about Connecticut and NJ seaside communities that are wrestling with the same issue, just a week or so behind in discussions, and more such discussions creeping out re the Berkshires as a major venue there waits to see if its summer season will happen. A personās accommodation to any given situation is personal. The problem faced by seasonal communities, to protect their regular citizens and at risk populations, is not. It is about their local hospital capacity and their entire population.
Maine, all of them can and should come down hard on wearing masks and limiting bodies inside any establishment. The simplest thing anyone can do. But frankly the news is not encouraging there with early signs of nearly violent pushback in some states. With being only three days into May.
Maine etc will come up with a way to handle this, and it will probably be an approach that only works with 100% compliance. Which wonāt happen. I was on a trail at a local state park yesterday and the shift from 2 weeks ago is dramatic. I fully expect the ranger to start coming thru and shutting things down based on what I saw.
So on the personal part - seasonal owners can talk with the local officials and harbormasters about access to launch points, one on one. Many smaller coastal communities still work that way. Someone who can get on the water without needing a public launch can just skip that this season. Bring more stuff, make arrangements with local folks and have backup plans works for anyone in a cottage with grounds. Cross fingers that the more typical motel situation can find a way thru this.
Here is a link to a clearer statement on the quarantine than I have seen before. Just issued yesterday. It places things in the correct sequence. Drive to the location in Maine then quarantine. Normal social distancing rules are in operation after that.
There is still some push back on this so it could change a bit by July. But this fixes the question mark about whether someone can drive on to their rental or house, which was not at all clear in the formal plan.
Thanks for that latest link, Celia. Previous guidance seemed to say that quarantine required staying indoors. Iām glad that the CDC has clarified that while you shouldnāt go to any stores or restaurants, it is OK to take a walk outside in non-crowded areas if you wear a mask and maintain distance from anyone else you might encounter. I think common sense guidance like that can actually lead to more compliance with the quarantine rules.
I agree. The original statement was confusing in terms of process and subsequent attempts have not been all that helpful for anyone who wanted to strictly adhere.
This may not do much for people who need formal activities, like families with young kids. But it helps a lot for people can entertain themselves within walking distance of the place they are staying. I can see a lot of vacation home owners finding that operating each weekend like this is preferable to being in a hot more urban environment.
Below article is update from Mills - lodging officially on as of June 1. Reference to possible other changes. Seems to clarify how much local officials have to chase down out of staters for enforcement too, IMO a welcome improvement.
Note the comments further down in this article about Rhode Island, where they are contemplating letting a negative test alter the quarantine requirement. Since that is also a major paddling coast.
Wanting to take a day trip to Maine yesterday, I hunted online for a definition of quarantining and found no clear guidelines. I concluded that the main challenge would be bathrooms. Scientists say that the virus can in fact be spread on surfaces and in the air in bathrooms. Another reason for not traveling to another state is the risk of exposure if you have an accident or your car breaks down. Iām really missing camping, but doubt I could bring myself to use a bathroom at a campground.
