Maine met seven out of 10 criteria in the latest assessment of the nation’s emergency health preparedness by the Trust for America’s Health.

The report, released this morning, found that combined, the states achieved their highest scores on the annual assessment but it warned that budget cuts could threaten that progress.

Maine’s score left it behind 32 states and ahead of 11 others, tied with Georgia, Missouri, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas.

Maine was one of only 17 states that maintained or increased its emergency health preparedness budget, but the scorecard said the state did not create improvement plans following at least two drills or incidents, does not require child-care facilities to have an evacuation and relocation plan in the case of a major hazard and did not routinely identify and report certain E. coli bacteria cases.

The state-by-state assessment was prepared by the Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit group funded by private foundations.


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