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New 'Keep Maine Safe, Keep Maine Open' campaign encourages Mainers to keep masking up

The campaign comes as the state’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have risen after many weeks of decline

BANGOR, Maine — A coalition of business leaders, health workers, and other state leaders have launched an effort to encourage Mainers to keep wearing masks even as many across the state get access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The “Keep Maine Safe, Keep Maine Open” campaign was launched to help local businesses stay open and keep Maine's communities safe. 

“If we really stay vigilant and keep wearing our masks and stay safe, we should be able to put the worst of this behind us in the next couple of months,” U.S. PIRG public health campaigns director Matthew Wellington said.

It's a message new to nobody, but with the hope the pandemic may come to an end this year, it's perhaps more important than ever before.

The campaign includes short videos of local leaders speaking up and showing their support for the cause.

“I am 100 percent behind ‘Keep Maine Safe, Keep Maine Open,'” Brenda Broder, owner of Amore Styles, told NEWS CENTER Maine. 

Broder said she had to shut down her business for eight weeks during lockdown. She's asking Mainers to wear their masks to keep businesses like hers open for good. 

“Wearing my mask got easy when I learned it would protect other people from what I could potentially be carrying and not even know,” Broder added.  

It’s a message heard all over Maine, including Belfast. 

“If we can all do it together for a little bit longer, you know, we’ll get there and I think there will be so many better days ahead,” Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce operations manager Scott Smith said. 

It's something for all of us to look forward to, once we're vaccinated and the pandemic is behind us.

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