Throughout this COVID-19 pandemic and our gradual reopening of the economy, the Maine CDC has monitored epidemiological data, including case trends and hospitalization rates, and health care readiness and capacity, to inform every one of our decisions on lifting restrictions in the State of Maine.

What do these trends look like?

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

In the past two weeks, Maine’s count of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased. Three counties in particular show alarming trends in these cases.

In the seven days beginning Wednesday, May 20 to Tuesday, May 26, a total of 96 neThroughout this COVID-19 pandemic and our gradual reopening of the economy, the Maine CDC has monitored epidemiological data, including case trends and hospitalization rates, and health care readiness and capacity, to inform every one of our decisions on lifting restrictions in the State of Maine.

What do these trends look like?

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

In the past two weeks, Maine’s count of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased. Three counties in particular show alarming trends in these cases.

In the seven days beginning Wednesday, May 20 to Tuesday, May 26, a total of 96 new cases was reported in Androscoggin County alone, for an average daily increase there of almost 14.

In the same time frame, a total of 193 new cases was reported in Cumberland County, for an average daily increase of more than 27.

In that same time frame also, a total of 52 new cases occurred in York County, for an average daily increase of more than 7.

In light of those trends, earlier this week, my Administration postponed the reopening of restaurants for dine-in service in York, Cumberland, and Androscoggin counties.

Restaurants in these counties were tentatively scheduled to reopen to dine-in services on June 1.

Instead, they may now offer outside dining service beginning June 1, but not dine-in eating.

I also announced that restaurants in Maine’s other thirteen counties can reopen as planned on June 1st for indoor and outdoor dining with precautions.

As of this recording, Maine has reopened its economy on a par with or to an even greater extent than other New England states.

Still, I know that this week’s announcement was unwelcome news for some restaurants in Cumberland, York and Androscoggin counties who had been preparing to fully reopen next week. I recognize and deplore the impact that this has on them.

I hear people asking: could we have given them a few more days, a little more notice? Well I would like to have been able to provide more notice, but, knowing that nothing is predictable about this pandemic except that people will get sick and many will die, I am trying to balance that fact with the need to consider the most current public health data and trends available.

So over that past week leading up to Wednesday, the trend in Androscoggin County for instance, continued to climb in a disturbing fashion. We had no choice. 

Every decision has consequences that are devastating for some, but every decision is intended to protect people of Maine from a deadly virus which is often spread in enclosed spaces where people tend to sit for extended periods of time, places like indoor dining facilities.

As Governor my responsibility is to protect the health and wellbeing of Maine people and to support our economy – and I will continue to fight to strike that balance.

The easy thing to do would be to allow everything to reopen. The easy thing to do would be to say yes to every business that wants to open widely and pretend that things are the same as they were a year ago, but they’re not and there is nothing easy about any of this. Our decisions however are based on fact and medical science, not on politics and not on popularity. The people of Maine expect no less of us.

So, I ask you – please – remember to wash your hands frequently, maintain six feet of distance between you and others, stay home when you can especially if you are older or have a health condition. Wear a cloth face covering when you are out in public to protect others.

Stay local, shop local. Support your local small businesses whenever possible.

Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation. We’ve kept our numbers low in comparison to other states because we’ve done the right thing and you’ve done the right thing.

We are in this together.

As Doctor Anthony Fauci said earlier this week “Now is the time, if ever there was one, for us to care selflessly about one another.”

I couldn’t agree more.

This is Governor Janet Mills.

Thank you for listening.

This weekend is Memorial Day. I want us to pause this weekend and remember the good, the courage and the grace of our nation’s past.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

This has been an extraordinarily difficult year, 2020, for our country and for our state. There is pain and illness, death and unemployment, and financial loss.

But it is on Memorial Day too that we remember how much else we have been through, how we survived those times and how we will survive and rise again.

This is the anniversary year of many other difficult years. Forty- five years ago, the end of the Vietnam War which sent 48,000 Maine men and women to that far-off battleground and took the lives of more than 340 of our people in Maine.

Sixty-seven years ago, the end of the Korean conflict, “the forgotten war” so called, which took the lives of more than 33,000 Americans, including at least 244 Maine soldiers.

Seventy-five years ago this month, V-E Day, the fall of the Third Reich, and, later that year, the end of the Second World War in which 80,000 Maine people served and more than 2,000 perished in battle.

I think of those people, the hardships they faced with uncertain fates, in Normandy and Belgium and Pacific islands.

Memorial Day brings respect and a sense of history as we honor those who perished to preserve our country and to protect our freedoms. It brings grief for the families of those recently lost including at least ten war heroes whom we have lost to the deadly coronavirus and whose families are unable to celebrate their lives.

When I think of those who served their country, I think of the courage they showed in the toughest of times.

Those Mainers who served and fought with determination and great hope for our collective future. A determination that I respect today. And a hope that I feel again today.

Seventy-five years ago last month, we lost one of the most vital people of the Twentieth century — Franklin Delano Roosevelt who led us out of the Great Depression and then led the American people through war, calling on us to speak with one voice, one heart, with determination, and dignity, showing what our nation is capable of as we fight against a formidable foe and formidable odds.

The odds we face today are great as well.

We know what to do.

We are not raising rifles and bayonets, or dodging land mines or dropping bombs on an enemy whose face and flag we know.

We are not walking into battle in foreign fields and forests.

We are facing an enemy that is real but unseen, as sure a killer as any enemy we have ever fought in our history.

We are fighting this foe as a nation and as a state, not with bullets, but with hygiene, not with soldiers huddled in bunkers but with social distancing everywhere we go, not with torpedoes but with face coverings. These are our strange and novel armaments, our only sure ammunition against this enemy. And we are all soldiers in this fight.

We arm ourselves this way to protect ourselves and protect people whose names we do not know — the people we meet on the street; who work in the restaurant, or the packing plant or the store; the nurses, doctors and people who care for the sick; and the veteran who deserves to live the remainder of that heroic life with health and happiness, not to be felled by a painful contagion far from family and friends.

We face great odds this year, as we did 75 years ago.

But we have the same hope and the same faith in the future, the same commitment to community that drove our predecessors not only to serve and survive, but to rise again, a unified nation.

The hope of our past and the faith in our future are with us this Memorial Day, as we raise our heads high, facial coverings on. Our souls rise, as we show, with these simple measures, our love for our neighbor, our respect for the freedoms and safety of all citizens, our great love for our state, and our love for our nation.

Wear the mask to show you care. Wear the mask with pride, in honor of every patriot.

God bless you. God bless the State of Maine this Memorial Day weekend.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

I am the daughter of a Maine public school teacher, so I know firsthand how important the work of Maine teachers is and the many challenges they have to overcome every day. Right now, our teachers and students are rising to meet an even greater challenge - adapting to distance learning amid this dangerous COVID-19 pandemic.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

I want to thank all Maine teachers for their continued devotion to our students even as, in many cases, you care for your own children at home. We will get through this. In the meantime, you continue to guide your students through a very uncertain time, and inspire them and set them on the path to a bright future.

While you do that important work, it is our responsibility to ensure that you, and all of our students, have what you need to stay connected during these difficult times.

Internet access is a necessity, not a luxury now and yet too many families lack access to high-speed internet, especially in some rural areas of our state.

Universal connectivity is more important than ever before during this pandemic as teachers try to stay connected to their students across Maine.

So, I am proud to announce that we have used federal funding and donations to secure internet access and provide internet devices to facilitate at home learning for 100 percent of the Maine children who said that they needed it.

The Department of Education conducted surveys of all public schools and private schools who serve public school students to understand the connectivity needs of students statewide —  21,845 students said they lacked connectivity. That’s a lot of kids.  Based on data from the 75 percent of schools that responded, about 2/3 of them said they needed a wireless service contract and about a third said they just needed a device, you know a hotspot or something.

So, to meet that need, our Administration has acquired service contracts for all those students through three different service providers, nearly all of which are for WiFi-enabled Galaxy Tablets that can be used as learning tools and hotspots or hotspots only.

Through one service provider, the Department of Education was also able to order MiFi, a wireless router that acts as a mobile WiFi hotspot. And, to fulfill the device only needs, the Maine Department of Education ordered (more than) 7,400 laptops.

The Department of Education is continuing to survey schools to determine further connectivity needs and they are reaching out to both higher education institutions and adult education programs to determine their students’ connectivity needs. 

As we work on returning to in-classroom instruction when it is safe to do so, these new devices will allow Maine students to stay engaged remotely with their school no matter where they live, regardless of their zip code or their family circumstances.

I want to thank the many generous donors and Maine’s Congressional Delegation for their advocacy and support which made this possible.

To all Maine students, I know this school year has been very difficult, but I am proud of the way you have pushed through to continue your education. We will need your skills to create a brighter future for everyone in our state.

And to Maine’s teachers, please know that we deeply appreciate all you do for our children and for the State of Maine. I hope that these devices and these service contracts provide some measure of relief amid a challenging situation to you and your students.

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Hello, it’s finally spring. The crocuses and tulips are poking their heads through the soil, robins are singing. Meanwhile, we continue to fight one of the biggest challenges our state has faced in a hundred years.

Hi, I am Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

The State of Maine has joined all other states in confronting the threat of the COVID-19 virus. Like other states, Maine has seen hundreds of people fall seriously ill and dozens of people die as a result of the virus.

All 50 states now have invoked their emergency executive powers. The President has declared every state a federal disaster area. And the overwhelming majority of states have issued strict “stay healthy at home” orders and orders prohibiting large gatherings and many common recreational and business activities.

Look, we all want life to return to normal as soon as it is safe to do so. Our hearts break to see closed storefronts and people struggling to make ends meet because of this crisis. Each day people call me and tell me their story and urge me to keep people safe while also doing what we can to protect the businesses and the lives and livelihoods of working men and women who are the heart and soul of our state.

At the same time, they and we know that reopening too soon and too aggressively could cause a secondary surge in COVID 19 cases, risking the lives of Maine people, overwhelming our healthcare system and further destabilizing the economy. Nobody wants that.

That’s the truth. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

Here in Maine, we are pursuing a cautious reopening, tailored to our state's own demographics and economic sectors. This approach won’t be driven by artificial deadlines or generic guidelines. It will be driven instead by fact, science and public health, and it will be done in cooperation with the private sector.

Our basic principles are:

1. Protecting Public Health;
2. Maintaining Health Care Readiness;
3. Building Reliable and Accessible Testing; and
4. Prioritizing Public-Private Collaboration

The Administration’s approach will utilize criteria and measurements being developed now by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention that will lead to a phased reopening of our economy. We will share those measures shortly when they are finalized.

Meanwhile, the DECD (Department of Economic and Community Development) will solicit ideas from industries and the various sectors of Maine’s economy about we can collaborate and how they can work with State Government to develop practical, reasonable, evidence-informed protocols to reopen.

We invite Maine people to take part in the discussion — give us your ideas about how we can safely restart the economy at https://www.maine.gov/decd/.

We also continue to process tens of thousands of new unemployment claims, and sending out the $600 weekly checks under the new federal program and planning how to process the new claims for self-employed individuals under this other new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program. We’re getting through it.

While we work hard to get benefits out to all eligible people, while we keep track of outbreaks of the virus across the state, and while we plan on how to reopen businesses and activities, dreaming of going back to the way things were, we also know that things will not return to normal soon.

Meanwhile we call on each other to reimagine how we do things, how we invent different ways of doing business, or shopping, or traveling, taking care not just of ourselves but of every man, woman and child in Maine, for whom we are all now equally responsible.

After all, you know, Maine is not just a state or a way of life or a dot on the map with 1.3 million people, or some place between the 42nd and 47th parallel on the globe. Maine is a community of souls, a state of givers and doers, of people with ideas, courage and compassion. Now is the time to let our true selves shine.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Like you, I certainly want life to return to normal as soon as it is safe to do so. My heart breaks to see the closed storefronts and to see so many people struggling to make ends meet because of this crisis.

At the same time, we all know that reopening too soon and too aggressively could very well cause a surge in COVID-19 cases, causing people to die and further rocking our economy.

None of us wants that.

As the President acknowledged this week, Governors are in charge of reopening our states’ economies, gradually lifting public health restrictions.

Here in Maine, we are planning a phased-in reopening, tailored to the demographics and the economic sectors of our state.

Ultimately, the protocols we adopt, after consulting with people from all parts of the state, will be guided by fact, science and public health guidance.

As the President’s guidelines note, widespread testing, personal protective equipment, and contact tracing are all critical to lifting the restrictions and reviving our economy; for that reason, the nation’s governors this week again urged the Federal government to make sure that all our states have these vital resources.

I also remain in touch with Governor Sununu of New Hampshire and Governor Scott of Vermont and we talk about things that we can do together appropriate for our northern New England region.

My Administration, through the Department of Economic and Community Development, has been talking with people from various economic sectors across the state to evaluate how and when each of these sectors may reopen. Those decisions, of course, will be driven first and foremost by public health.

In the meantime, I ask you again to continue to stay the course. Stay home to save lives.

Of course, to stay home, you need to have a home.

That’s why this week I issued an Executive Order that limits evictions during this state of emergency. This Order applies to commercial tenants, small businesses, as well as residences.

And, with respect to rent, MaineHousing and I created a temporary rental assistance program for Maine people who can’t pay their rent due to COVID-19.

The program is up and running now and you can find more information about that at www.mainehousing.org/covidrent.

I also wrote to all the financial institutions this week urging them to negotiate with homeowners who are struggling to pay the mortgage because of COVID-19.

Homes are more than brick and beams and mortar. Home is where my husband and I raised five girls. It’s where we sat at the kitchen table, helping with homework, paying bills. Where we slept safely each night.

For some Maine people though, homes are not sanctuaries. In one recent survey of people who called the domestic violence hotline, 70 percent said that the pandemic had impacted their safety.

So, stay at home orders, while they are necessary to stop the spread of the virus, they can leave victims and survivors of abuse cut off from friends, family and others whom they rely on for help, further empowering their abusers.

I want to be clear – while the courts are closed for many proceedings, you can still get a protection from abuse order; and clerks, attorneys, police officers and others are standing by to connect you with support and services you need to stay safe. Even hotels that are closed to most people remain open for people escaping abuse.

I ask all employers to check in on your employees who are now working from home, and I ask all friends and family members to connect with loved ones to ensure that they are safe.

If you need help, please call 1-866-834-4357, any time, 24 hours a day. 1-866-834-4357. Domestic violence shelters are also there for you if you need to find safety.

We all have a responsibility to support one another even as we stay apart.

God bless you and keep you safe. God bless the State of Maine during this difficult time.

I am Governor Mills. Thank you for listening.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Thursday night and into Friday, a spring storm brought strong winds and heavy snow…it downed tree limbs and caused power outages to more than a quarter of a million people across our state – nearly a third of the state’s electric utility customers.

I mean, we really needed this right?

In the wake of this storm, I have directed the Maine Emergency Management Agency to work with our electric utilities to secure mutual assistance from other states and from New Brunswick and expedite the restoration of electricity as much as possible. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, I have asked them to prioritize hospitals, health care facilities, and food distribution centers.

If you still don’t have power, please know the utilities are working on it.

Well this storm, on top of COVID-19, is pretty frustrating. I know it is frustrating to be asked to meet new and never-ending challenges with courage, patience and compassion.

I know people are tired of being cooped up at home; tired of working on the frontlines away from your family and friends, tired of wondering how long will we have to do this.

And that’s ok.

It’s in difficult moments like these, when these burdens feel sometimes too great to bear, I think of the quote from my four year old granddaughter Noelle’s favorite movie, Frozen 2, maybe you’ve seen it. The quote is:

“Do the next right thing.”

What keeps me going during these times, during this holy week for Christians, Passover for people of the Jewish faith, it’s my faith in you, in Maine people: my faith in knowing that, no matter the difficulty, no matter the challenge, Maine people will rise to do the next right thing.

So, today, I suggest you call a neighbor, make sure they are okay. Thank our front line workers, our health care workers. Hug your kids, they are missing their friends and their teachers and schoolmates. Stay the course. Stay home to beat this virus. Be kind and love one another.

I am speaking to you not just as your Governor, but as a widow. As a mother. As a grandmother. As a friend.

I know there is someone out there you know who would like to hear from you.

Maybe it’s an uncle or an aunt. A grandfather or grandmother.

Your neighbor, or someone in assisted living who’s waiting for that phone to ring. Someone you used to snowmobile with. Someone you used to go fishing with. Maybe someone you played cards with once upon a time.

Call them, ask them to tell you their story. Tell them that you want to hear about the Korean War, or their experience in Vietnam. Or what they remember about their wedding day.

Don’t miss this opportunity; there may never be another one.

Don’t let this moment pass you by.

You know my niece recently made a call to my older brother and spent three hours on the phone with him learning about his experiences during the Vietnam War.

So make the call.

Even if it’s someone you’ve lost touch with, or someone you offended at one time. They still need to hear from you.

We are all in this together, so be kind and do the next right thing.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: please stay home and go out only when necessary. When you do go out, stay six feet apart from other people and wash your hands often. You’re saving lives. We’re all saving lives by staying home.

Friday, Larry Lord, the hero of Franklin County who ushered people to safety out of the building in Farmington before it exploded last September, he finally arrived home.

He arrived home after months of rehabilitation, and he still has a long and difficult road ahead.

So today, as we clean up our roads after the storm, as we restore power, as we do our part to stay apart and stay safe, let Larry Lord’s heroism and his perseverance remind us all that, with courage and kindness like his, we can and will overcome.

This is Governor Janet Mills.

God bless you and keep you safe.

God bless the State of Maine.

Thank you for listening.

We are in the midst of one of the greatest public health crises this world has seen in more than a century.

This virus will continue to sicken people across our state and our country; our cases will grow, and unfortunately, more people will die.

I say this to be direct, to be as honest with you as I can.

Because saving lives depends on all of us.

Good morning, I am Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Effective Thursday morning, April 2nd, until at least April 30, I have ordered:

1. All Maine people to stay at home. Leave only if you work in an essential business or to do an essential activity, such as getting groceries, or going to the pharmacy, or getting medical care, caring for a family member outside your home, or going for a walk, a run, a hike, fishing or walking a pet. But while you are out, even while you’re out, you have to maintain six feet distance from other people other than immediate family or household members.
2. I have ordered people not to use public transportation unless it’s for an essential reason or for some job that cannot be done from home. For those who travel in their own vehicles, you must limit passengers to persons within your immediate household unless you are transporting someone for a medical or public health reason.
3. I have ordered essential stores that do remain open to limit the number of customers inside the store at any one time, to also adopt curb-side pickup and delivery options as much as possible, and to enforce the recommended physical distancing requirements for customers and staff in and around their facilities.
4. I have ordered the continued closure of schools for classroom and in-person instruction until at least May 1. Traveling to and from a school for purposes of receiving meals or instructional materials for distance learning is allowed.

While I cannot simply close the State’s border, or pull up the Maine-New Hampshire Bridge as some people have suggested, I have issued a new travel order, effective immediately, requiring that anyone entering Maine self-quarantine for 14 days at home and obey Maine’s Stay Healthy at Home Order.

There will be a few exceptions for essential travel, but basically, if you don’t need to come to Maine right now for an essential purpose, please don’t.

This is difficult on all of us, but if we pull together, we can and will defeat this virus. Maine is a welcoming state, and we do welcome the many servicemembers, Coast Guard folks and medical professionals and so many people who are here to help us. I ask Maine people not to make assumptions about others or their license plate, and we welcome the cooperation of other visitors and returning residents in quarantining themselves and keeping us all safe in accordance with my travel order. Let us treat all people in Maine with compassion and kindness. That is how we will get through this.

If we all do our part, you and your family can stay safe. And the sooner we all take all these measures, the sooner we can flatten that curve, avoid the surge, and be safe once again as a state.

So, do your part: Stay apart.

If you love your neighbor, your family, if you love this state, as I do, please, don’t travel. Stay healthy. Stay home.

I am Governor Janet Mills.

God bless you and yours and keep you all safe.

And may God bless the State of Maine.

Friday the State of Maine joined countless friends, families, communities, states and countries across the world in mourning the loss of an individual who had COVID-19. A sad day. A sad week.

I’m Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

In the past several weeks, in the face of this unprecedented challenge, Maine people have stood together.

We faced these times as we always have - with courage, compassion and commonsense, with generosity and patience, with hearts open to one another.

In this moment of grief in our state, we stand side by side still.

One author said that her mother taught her never to look away from another person’s pain.

She said, never look down. Never pretend not to see hurt. Look people in the eye, even when their pain is overwhelming. And find people who can look you in the eye when pain overwhelms you.

We all need to know we’re not alone - especially when we are hurting.

To the family grieving the loss of someone they loved - I know you are hurting, but you are not alone. I hope you hear me when we say we are all family. And we stand by your side.

To the people of Maine – this news will no doubt worry many of you. I can’t say that we won’t suffer more losses before this is over, but know that we will get through this as Mainers, looking each other and looking the world in the eye – together, no matter the distance between us now.

We do need to maintain our distance.

That’s why, based on guidance from the Federal CDC and the State CDC, I have required that all non-essential businesses and operations in Maine close their physical locations to the public, meaning that those who allow customer, vendor or other in-person contact can no longer do so.

I have strongly recommended that all essential businesses like grocery stores immediately reduce congestion in their stores by, you know,

• For big box stores limiting customers to no more than 100 people at a time;
• Issuing curbside pick-up and delivery services;
• Staggering their hours for shoppers of a certain age;
• Closing fitting rooms – this is no time to go out and buy a dress;
• Cautioning customers against handling merchandise that they are not buying;
• Marking six-foot measurements by the cashier stations and reminding people to remain six feet apart;
• Staggering break times for employees and requiring frequent hand-washing;
• And regularly sanitizing high-touch areas, like shopping carts.

Please, go to these stores only when you need to. Just because a store is allowed to be open doesn’t mean it’s safe to go there. Go with a list, touch only the things you are buying, and don’t bring your entire family with you or friends.

Above all, stay away from other people. Stay home and leave home only when absolutely necessary. Take walks and exercise, buy things like groceries, go to work if your job is essential and if you can’t work remotely – but stay six feet away from other people – stay home as much as humanly possible.

Don’t take chances. And if you come from another state, you should self-isolate for 14 days, please. If you’re coming back from Florida, driving up from New York or Boston to a summer home, self-isolate for 14 days.

The life you save may be your own. It may be your child’s. It may be your neighbor’s or your parent’s or grandparent’s. But it will save a life.

Things will get worse before they get better. But they will get better if we all pull together and do what we have to do right now. And it means staying home. We will get through this because we stand together. We will get through this because we are Maine.

On the mantle in my room there is a quote from Emily Dickinson - I think about it every day:

        “Hope is thing with feathers
        That perches in the soul
        And sings the tune without the words
        And never stops…at all.”

Today we are feeling grief. But today — and every day — we also know hope.

I hope that God blesses every one of you and yours and keeps you all safe.

And God bless the State of Maine.

I am Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Hi, this is Governor Janet Mills.

You know my parents used to tell me that we cannot control everything that happens to us, but what we can control – and what we must control – is how we react to what happens to us.

I know you are concerned, even scared, about your health and that of your loved ones. I know you are thinking about where your next pay check will come from, or your next bag of groceries.

I know that anxiety and concern for the unknown fill the air right now.

When your child or grandchild tells you that they are scared, tell them: it’s okay to be scared.

Anxiety is normal. The future is uncertain.

But remind them always: we have each other. We are all family.

Tell them we have been here before, in one way or another. We fought wars together. We survived blizzards, ice storms, attacks on our nation.

We have risen to the challenges of our times before and we are rising to the challenges before us now.

I want to assure you that medical professionals and Maine CDC experts are working around the clock to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus and to keep you all healthy and safe.

My Administration has worked with the Legislature, we’re working with Maine’s Congressional Delegation, with other governors and businesses and health care providers, to support small businesses, their employees, and those who are self-employed who been impacted by the coronavirus.

I am proud of that work, but what I am even prouder of is what I see in communities across Maine:

I see businesses that are partnering with local nonprofits to make lunches and dinners for those in need.

I see teachers conducting classes online and school staff delivering homework packets and meals to children at home.

I see fitness instructors offering online classes to keep people active, and parishes live-streaming faith services and hosting online prayer gatherings.

I see Maine people simply reaching out to one another to ask “How are you, how can I help?”

Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers, said, “When I was young and I would see scary things on the news, my mother would say, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

Maine people are helpers, and they are everywhere.

They are our doctors, nurses, EMS, firefighters, police officers, grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, child care workers, government employees.

They are you, they are your neighbor, they are your loved ones.

They are Maine people.

While I know times are difficult and uncertain, let us remember what we can control, what we can do, not just what we cannot. Remember what we can control — ourselves, our love for another, and our love for this shared state we are so lucky to call home.

Today we go outside and enjoy the state parks, go to a beach, climb a mountain — whether it’s Bald or Battie or Bradbury — enjoy the outdoors, keeping your social (physical) distance.

Today, we keep our distance from one another so that tomorrow we can come together again.

When people look back on us years from now, they will say that Maine did sacrifice but Maine stood strong. They will say:

• Maine people were tough,
• Maine people hung together.
• Maine provided the helpers.
• Maine people survived, and
• Maine rose again better than ever.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

God bless you and yours, and God bless the State of Maine

Good morning, this is Governor Janet Mills.

By now I am sure you have heard of the coronavirus, which is sometimes referred to as COVID-19. The Maine CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, reports that the risk to Maine residents remains low, but that doesn’t mean we’re not preparing.

The Maine CDC began working on our preparedness and our response efforts last year, and now with federal officials informing us that this virus is likely to spread further in the United States, we have scaled up our efforts.

We are:

• adjusting our emergency response protocols;
• communicating frequently with public health and medical professionals, with our hospital systems, school officials, EMS providers, county governments, Tribal governments, and many others to make sure they all have the most up to date information and resources
• ensuring that potential cases are rapidly identified and investigated and that isolation procedures are in place, if and when needed;
• updating our lab equipment to allow us to test for the coronavirus here in Maine as soon as this very weekend and engaging public health nurses as part of  our emergency response, among other measures.

I also convened the Coronavirus Response Team. Under the leadership of the Maine CDC and Doctor Nirav Shah, all departments in my administration are reviewing our State Government readiness plans and coordinating with local agencies, with health authorities, and others to respond to the potential spread of the coronavirus. Our State agency leaders continue to be in constant contact with each other regarding preparedness for any potential coronavirus cases in our State.

So, what can you do? The Maine CDC urges all of us to take precautions and follow the federal guidelines from the U.S. CDC. That means whether you’ve been traveling or not taking the following steps to make sure you and your family are safe:

• First, wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Second, avoid shaking hands as a greeting. That’s tough for somebody like me, I meet a lot of people, but now I’m just saying, “You know what, the CDC has advised us not to shake hands, so with all due respect, I’m not going to be shaking hands.”
• Thirdly, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Fourth, avoid close contact with anybody who’s sick.
• Fifth, stay home if you are sick. Now that’s not always easy, but please for the sake of the safety of your community and your friends, stay home if you are sick. Also, cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• And finally, clean and disinfect frequently the things you touch — the surfaces and objects that we all handle every day, your cellphone, your computer, your door handles — disinfect them with disinfecting wipes and then throw the wipes away.

Take these simple, important steps to help protect you, your family, your neighbors, and your co-workers from both the coronavirus and the common flu at the same time.

So, this virus is a quickly evolving situation and I am recording this radio address Friday afternoon so it’s possible by the time you hear my voice, there could be new developments. I encourage you to stay-up-to-date by seeking information from credible sources, the Maine CDC being one of them, and the U.S. CDC. On their websites, they keep posting updates every couple of hours and that’s the most important source of information for all of us.

If you are considering travel, I urge you to visit the U.S. CDC’s travel guidance on their website at CDC.GOV. That’s C-D-C.GOV. And if you’ve recently traveled to Italy, South Korea, China or Iran, please stay at home and avoid social contact for 14 days. It’s really important.

If you have symptoms, cough or fever, or shortness of breath, call the doctor’s office. Do not go to the emergency room or to the local clinic but call first. Tell them what your symptoms are, and they’ll help you.

You know, preparing with facts and science and proven public health measures, and commonsense precautions — these are the best measures we can take to protect both the people we serve at work and our friends and families at home and protecting all the people of Maine.

This is Governor Janet Mills, wishing you good health and thank you for listening.