PARIS, Maine (AP) The leaders of a town in western Maine say the governor’s executive order requiring people to wear masks during the pandemic violates the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Paris Select Board members, all of whom were wearing masks, unanimously passed the resolution Monday night, the Sun Journal reported. It calls for nullification of the governor’s mask mandate.
The board is the latest political entity to attack mask mandates in Maine.
Some of the critics have said masks cause problems for people with breathing difficulties or people who are claustrophobic.
The resolution was offered by a group called Beacon For Sovereignty, which said mask mandates violate both the Constitution and the Americans With Disabilities Act. The ADA, adopted in 1990, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.
The executive director of Disability Rights Maine, an advocacy group for the disabled, said the organization supports the governor’s mandates and called the resolution “a form of misguided civil disobedience.”
“We know that the vast majority of Maine people with disabilities wear face coverings when in the community because it is safer and it is smart,” Kim Moody said. “And we want others to do the same, because many of us have compromised immune systems or are otherwise in high-risk categories.”
