Maine leaders are considering a “layered” approach instead of a 14-day quarantine for tourists who might be bringing the coronavirus to the state, its top economic official said.

Lifting the quarantine order will probably require a blend of testing, symptom checks, public education, and adherence to industry-specific guidelines and protocols, Heather Johnson, the state’s commissioner of economic and community development, told the Bangor Daily News.

“When you layer all of those together, you create a mesh that is intended to capture and really mitigate that risk,” she said.

The administration of Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, is working on a plan that incorporates several elements because there is no single answer to keeping residents healthy “when you go from 1.3 million people to 10 million people in a summer in Maine.”

Leaders of Maine’s tourism industry have tried unsuccessfully to overturn the 14-day quarantine order in federal court and have said they plan to appeal.

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