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Courtesy / News Center Maine
Gov. Janet Mills explains her order to close nonessential businesses in a screen image from Tuesday's Augusta news conference.
Gov. Janet Mills Tuesday ordered nonessential businesses to close their public-facing facilities and told essential ones they must better limit contact, while Portland went a step further and issued a stay-at-home order to residents.
The measures are an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has increased in Maine from one confirmed case on March 12 to 118 Tuesday.
An emergency proclamation in Portland, like the state's, applies to all nonessential businesses and services in the city, but also orders residents to remain at home unless necessary.
The state order went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and will continue until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, April 8.
Portland's order goes into effect at 5 p.m. today and lasts for five days, the limit the city can issue such an order. It will be taken up by the City Council Monday with an expectation of being extended, Mayor Kate Snyder and CIty Manager Jon Jennings said.
Businesses violating the state order may lose permits or licenses, and there could be other penalties. Those violating Portland's stay-at-home order will be enforced by the police department and violators can be fined up to $500, as well as charged legal costs.
Some of those who work in health care and at essential businesses have been given letters from their employer to show police if they're stopped.
Mills, who also urged residents to stay at home and practice physical distancing, said nonessential businesses that deal with the public can stay open, but with strict measures about how people interact. She said that business so far haven't been doing enough to stop the spread of the virus.
“Last week, I strongly urged all nonpublic-facing businesses to close their doors, and while it was not easy to comply with, most people did,” she said. But it's also clear people aren't doing enough to keep physical distance, she said.
"I’ve spoken to managers of large retail stores, and I’m recommending that they do a lot better," she said. "We must do better."
Among her recommendations for essential businesses are that those with more than 5,000 square feet — which would include supermarkets and big box retailers — have a 100-customer limit.
As far as closing nonessential businesses, she said, "I'm not shutting down businesses, I'm shutting down public-facing physical plants." Those businesses can still perform certain functions, but can't be in physical contact with customers, vendors or more than 10 employees.
Consumers will see some big boxes, like Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot, open. Those are considered essential because of the types of things they sell — groceries in Walmart's case, hardware and home repair in the other two.
Other big boxes, like Hobby Lobby, which sells arts and crafts goods, and clothing stores are considered nonessential. Shopping malls, too, are on the nonessential list.
While Mills stressed the statewide order is not a “stay in place” order for residents, she asked that people stay home unless it's necessary to go out.
“Do not go to the store because it feels like a good thing to do, but go because you need something essential," she said. "Just because a store is open doesn’t mean it’s safe to go there and doesn’t mean you should bring your whole family there."
Jennings, at an afternoon news conference following the state one, said the city's order is "a step further" than what Mills has ordered. With the vast majority of cases in southern Maine "we have to take further action," he said. He urged other towns and cities in York and Cumberland counties to follow suit.
Of Maine's 118 cases reported Tuesday, 74 are in Cumberland County and 16 in York County. Portland, with a population of 67,000 over 69 square miles, is the state's most densely populated area, and Cumberland County contains 292,500 of the state's 1.3 million people. The Maine CDC is not saying which communities those with COVID-19 are from, so it's not clear how specifically Portland is affected.
"This is a stay at home proclamation," Mayor Kate Snyder said. "It's to get people to think and behave differently. We want to limit that exposure beyond our front door, and that's what this is about.
"This is about public health and public safety. Unless you have essential business that needs to be conducted, stay at home."
She and Jennings said, however, people can exercise outside if they keep distance from others. But, "we all need to function as if we have the virus."
"Everyone should start behaving as if the virus were in their county, in their community, in their town," Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, said at Tuesday's state news conference in Augusta. Shah has made that point repeatedly in daily briefings over the past two weeks.
"This represents the tip of iceberg," Shah said. He said that other outbreaks have shown "now is the time to start taking public health action."
"Even if you live in a county with no cases, this is no time to wait," Shah said. "Absence of evidence of cases in your county is not evidence of absence of cases in your county."
Mills also stressed the need for every community in the state to practice physical distancing.
"I recognize these decisions will create significant difficulties for people and businesses across our state, but we are confronting an unprecedented challenge that is threatening the health and safety of our people," she said.
She said she wanted to avoid mandatory measures last week when she suggested last week businesses move to limit interaction, but instead “give Maine people a chance before changing their lives.” But the fact that people weren't doing enough prompted her to make the nonessential business limit mandatory.
Among concerns is another one Shah has stressed — that the state is trying to prevent health care overload similar to what’s happening in other places. The only way to do that is slow spread of the virus.
As of Tuesday, there have been 3,185 requests for consultation by health care providers, and there are also 1,300 tests waiting to be run.
He said the amount of tests that haven't been completed is "too high" and "unacceptable." The CDC is working with a commercial lab to get test done more quickly, he said, but didn't offer specifics.
There have been 3,014 negative tests in Maine.
All who spoke in both Portland and Augusta said that the orders are to mitigate the spread of the virus, to protect the health residents and safeguard the health care system’s capacity. The 15 days the state is mandating is to "flatten the curve" — in other words, spread the amount of cases out so that the health care system isn't overwhelmed.
Mills, like the Portland officials, also urged people not to go out unless they have to, though she stressed her order is not a stay-at-home mandate. She and Shah both said the virus is in communities that haven't had a case yet.
"I urge you in strongest possible terms to engage in physical distancing at all times," Mills said. "It depends on whether we choose to stay apart today so we can come together tomorrow." She also said elderly people and others who are more susceptible to the virus should eliminate all social interactions as often as possible."
Mills also said essential businesses have to implement more measures to protect customers and employees, with guidelines that include limiting the number of people in the building and more. Without mentioning specifics, she said her order is in part because she perceives that businesses weren't doing everything they can to follow last week's suggestions.
The order came after she strongly suggested last week that businesses and residents take such measures. She said Tuesday's order wan't because other states are cracking down.
“While the challenge of mitigating the spread of COVID-19 is one we share with rest of the world,” she said, solutions are specific to what's going on in Maine.
Because most of the state is sparsely populated, Mills said, a stay-at-home order isn't necessary if people pay attention to physical proximity.
Essential and nonessential businesses for both Mills' order and the Portland one are defined by the Department of Homeland Security.
Mills order may be enforced by any governmental department or official that regulates licenses, permits or any other authorization to operate a business or occupy a building. A violation is considered a violation of any such a license, permit and or other authorization. The order can be enforced by law enforcement if necessary.
Essential businesses are:
The order also says:
Essential businesses and operations shall "to maximum extent practicable" have employees work remotely and otherwise comply with social distancing requirements, including maintaining 6-foot social distancing for both employees and members of the public at all times, which includes customers standing in line.
It also says that nonurgent medical and dental procedures, elective surgeries and appointments should be postponed based on consultations between individuals and providers; the use of telehealth and telephone consultation is strongly encouraged.
Nonessential businesses and operations must cease activities at sites that are public-facing, which means they allow customer, vendor or other in-person contact. Ones at sites that require more than 10 workers to convene in space where social distancing is not possible also must cease.
They can continue activities that:
Permitted activities by nonessential businesses include taking orders by phone, email or other remote means and preparing such orders by delivery; maintaining the value of the business's inventory; preserving the condition of the business's physical plant and equipment; ensuring security; and processing payroll, employee benefits and related functions.
The order "for clarity" says that nonessential businesses include, but are not limited to:
Businesses, especially the big-box stores that attract many people, must, under the order, "make all best efforts to implement and actively enforce social distancing requirements in and around: the stores, including, but not limited to:
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