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Many Maine people might be experiencing an emotion that has recently been in short supply: excitement.
By the numbers, things seem to be heading in the right direction in what should hopefully be a late stage in the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have trended downward in recent weeks as the number of people getting vaccinated continues to rise.
A Friday announcement from Gov. Janet Mills laying out the state’s plan for relaxing COVID-19 restrictions has upped the excitement levels, particularly in the business community.
“Everybody’s talking about it,” Steve Dimillo, of Portland restaurant Dimillo’s, told WGME. “There’s a big buzz about the governor’s announcement.”
“The staff and I and the managers, we’re all just giddy about it,” he added.
The giddiness is understandable. We’re excited too about the prospect of a more normal summer. But we hope the excitement continues to be served with a big side of caution.
To be sure, restaurants and other small businesses don’t need a reminder about what the last year has been like, or about the sacrifices and adjustments they and many other Maine people have made as part of the effort to slow the spread of the virus. We’ve come this far together, and should pay attention to the cautious optimism from public health experts — some of whom warn that a rush to get back to normal now could delay progress this summer.
“I think we can have a much more, I don’t want to say normal, but at least a ‘new normal’ summer,” Harvard researcher Thomas Tsai said, as reported by the Hill. He used the analogy of being in the seventh inning stretch of a baseball game.
“Progress has been made; it’s OK to take stock of that,” he said. “How we play the next two innings determines if this is a single game or turns into a doubleheader.”
Maine translation: If you’re as excited as we are about the idea of a July evening at Hadlock Field or an August concert on the Bangor waterfront, let’s keep being careful in March and April.
Some parts of the plan Mills announced Friday took place immediately: all New England states are now exempt from Maine’s test or quarantine requirement, as are individuals who have been fully vaccinated. Much of it, however, like changing event capacity limits from a specific cap statewide to a percentage of capacity for each individual location, will be phased in during the coming weeks and months. The clarity this plan provides moving forward has tremendous value for the Maine economy as we head into the typically busy spring and summer seasons.
“A clear understanding of what the travel guidelines are and what capacity limitations will be heading into spring and summer is tremendously helpful,” Maine Tourism Association CEO Tony Cameron said in a Friday statement.
As Mills emphasized, we’re still in a pandemic, even as we can increasingly see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Of course, it’s not over yet,” Mills said of the pandemic, noting that the spread of new variants or increases in cases in Maine or other states could lead to the plan being adjusted. Mask requirements, social distancing measures and enhanced cleaning protocols will remain in place.
Maine has seen some of the lowest case and death rates in the country. That didn’t happen totally by accident, even if Maine benefited from a smaller and geographically spread out population. It took balanced policymaking and a heck of a lot of sacrifices from the Maine people.
While restrictions start to relax, let’s not stop being careful. Keep wearing your mask, avoid crowds when you can, wash your hands, and when you’re able, get vaccinated. There are increasing reasons to be excited, but the reasons for caution remain.
