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Janet Mills Ends Early Closing Time In Maine Amid Improving COVID-19 Metrics

Robert F. Bukaty
/
Associated Press
A man wears a face covering to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 while walking along the waterfront, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Portland, Maine.

Gov. Janet Mills is ending the early closing time the state required for some businesses in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 during the holidays.

Starting Monday, affected businesses, which include restaurants, movie theaters and casinos, no longer have to close by 9 p.m. Mills says the change is possible because of improving COVID-19 metrics in Maine.

“With the holiday season behind us and in light of these better figures, we are now prepared to end the 9 p.m. early closing time for businesses,” she says.

Maine’s positivity rate is 3.6%, down from nearly 6% a month ago.

Maine Center for Disease Control added 284 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. That number has steadily declined throughout the week.

This is the lowest number of new cases reported on a Thursday since Thanksgiving.

The Maine CDC reports five more people with the disease have died.

The state reports more than 120,000 vaccines have been distributed throughout the state.