Our local businesses have stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restaurants expanded their take-out and delivery options and created online ordering and curbside pickup processes to help facilitate safe operations. Local manufacturers began creating personal protective equipment, or PPE, for health care and other essential workers, and countless other businesses have taken action to help us get through this difficult time. But after months of COVID-19 restrictions and a tough economy, these businesses are hurting, and they need our support.

As the state continues to ease COVID-19 restrictions, there are more and more opportunities to go out and visit your favorite local businesses. But it’s important that we do so safely. A resurgence of cases, as we are seeing in other parts of the country, would not only have devastating health impacts, but it could also affect businesses, as more folks would stay home to avoid contracting COVID-19.

Our business owners understand this, and they care about keeping their customers safe. I’ve toured a number of local businesses in recent months and have seen the steps they are taking to ensure their customers and employees can stay safe. From changing their layout to accommodate physical distancing, to expanding cleaning practices, to setting up protocols to ensure no unnecessary contact, and so much more, these steps are extensive and costly.

To ensure their efforts aren’t in vain, we all must do our part. This starts with wearing a mask any time you are unable to maintain adequate physical distance from other people. Masks are a simple, yet effective barrier that prevent respiratory droplets from traveling out of your nose and mouth and into the air. Laboratory studies show that wearing a mask can significantly reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19, and evidence shows that countries with widespread mask use were much more successful at controlling their COVID-19 outbreaks than countries where mask wearing is less common. Wearing a mask in public is easy, it works, and it shows the people around you that you care about them and don’t want to get them sick.

When you’re visiting a business, it’s also important to follow the instructions of staff. Most businesses have new practices in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and are using signs, arrows and verbal reminders to ensure folks comply when they visit. Staff have a lot on their plate and are already overwhelmed trying to adjust to this “new normal,” so please be respectful and follow their instructions.

Finally, please remember to wash your hands, keep your distance, and stay home if you’re feeling sick. While some restrictions have been eased and we now have more opportunities to go out and support our local businesses, that does not mean the pandemic is over. It’s on each of us to take responsibility for our actions and be respectful of one another, so that we can get back to normal as soon as possible.

If you want to share your thoughts about Maine’s COVID-19 response or anything else, or if you need my assistance on an issue you’re having with state government, you may call my office at (207) 287-1515 or send me an email at Linda.Sanborn@legislature.maine.gov.

Sen. Linda Sanborn currently represents most of Scarborough, along with Gorham and most of Buxton, in the Maine Senate. She previously served four two-year terms in the Maine House of Representatives, and is retired after 25 years of practicing family medicine in Gorham.

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