Wear a mask indoors in public settings in counties where there is significant transmission of the virus – Maine Center for Disease Control
Maine has seen a recent increase in the number of active COVID-19 cases, as well as in the number of those cases that are attributable to the Delta variant – a highly contagious form of COVID-19.
The Delta variant is believed to reproduce more quickly in the body than the original virus, and this means that vaccinated individuals may be able to spread the virus to others even if they themselves do not become severely ill – 60% of vaccinated individuals do not experience symptoms at all even if they carry the virus.
To protect those who are unvaccinated and thus most at risk of becoming severely ill or dying from contracting the virus, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and the Maine CDC are recommending that when people go indoors in public settings in counties where there is significant transmission of the virus, they put on a mask. Significant transmission is defined as 50 weekly cases per 100,000 people. The recommendation applies both to vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
According to Dr. Nirav Shah, Director of the Maine CDC, “Those who are fully vaccinated, even in the face of the Delta variant, still enjoy remarkable protection against hospitalization and death. We are recommending masks based on the rare but important possibility that someone who is fully vaccinated might infect someone else who is not vaccinated. This measure is to keep others safe.”
