AUGUSTA, Maine — After a year of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Janet Mills admits that, like most Mainers, she is tired of it.
“It has been a long haul,” the Governor told NEWS CENTER Maine on Thursday. “I think we’ve done as well as we could and always based decisions on fact and medical science, not on politics.”
Mills spoke of the difficult decisions made, especially in the early months of the pandemic, when she had to put Maine into a state of civil emergency, issue a stay-at-home order, and shut down many businesses.
In the interview, Mills said the decisions were difficult but did not say she would change any of them. She said the state and her have made hard decisions and done what had to be done.
“No governor expected to be the person who shut down their state for a time last spring, No governor wanted to be the once to say no graduations or funeral, or Fourth of July parades, or limiting classroom learning or closing bars,” said Mills.
“We didn’t ask for this pandemic. We didn’t want it…but once it came here, we declared war on it and we will win that war.”
Asked if she expects to be able to walk the main street of her hometown of Farmington this summer, without a mask, Mills said no.
“We’re asking people to keep masks, and I’m going to do that too,” she said, adding that even those who are vaccinated could still spread the virus or be affected. Therefore, the Governor said, she will continue to wear the mask.
“What’s the harm in it?”
Watch the full interview here: