As governor, it is my responsibility to protect the health and safety of Maine people, and I spend every waking moment of my life thinking, questioning, wrestling with how we can accomplish that and how we can do it better than the day before. I do it because, at the end of all of this, if we don’t have a healthy people, then what do we have? After all, it is the people in our lives — our family, friends, neighbors and loved ones — who matter most.

That is why Maine people are always at the forefront in my mind when I make decisions about our state’s reopening plan. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and our gradual reopening process, the Maine Center for Disease Control has monitored epidemiological data, such as case trends and hospitalization rates, as well as health care readiness and capacity, to inform our decisions on lifting restrictions in the state of Maine.

Before I announced last week that we were only going to allow outdoor dining to resume in Androscoggin, York, and Cumberland counties, Maine’s count of confirmed COVID-19 cases had increased. Maine had averaged almost 50 new cases of COVID-19 a day with a concentration of these new cases in southern Maine. Meanwhile, we had also averaged four new hospitalizations per day.

Here is what the Maine CDC reported for Androscoggin County, where community transmission has been established:

As of May 19, there were 151 total cases. After that, on May 20, 34 new cases, total, 185; May 21, 17 new cases, total 202; May 22, 7 new cases, total 209; May 23, 18 new cases, total 227; May 24, 6 new cases, total, 233; May 25, 5 new cases, total, 238; May 26, 9 new cases, total, 247.

All of this troubling data led to serious concerns about public health and a reassessment of the Phase 2 reopening plan.

In fact, since the beginning of the reporting of COVID-19 cases through the time of this writing, Androscoggin has had 269 positive cases, with 26 hospitalizations. Two Androscoggin County residents have died. Between May 1 and May 29, Androscoggin County’s case count went from 52 to 269, indicating a noticeable upward trend. In the past 10 days, however, that total went from 185 to 269.

Maine CDC has identified three additional outbreaks in Androscoggin County, including at a large employer (Proctor and Gamble/Tambrands) and two group homes.

This trend was, and continues to be, disturbing.

So last week, I allowed for the reopening of restaurants in Androscoggin, Cumberland, and York counties to outside dining only, as opposed to both outside and inside dining, with continued take-out and curbside pick-up.

That move brought us into line with our neighbors in New Hampshire, which is only allowing outdoor dining. In fact, as of this writing, no New England state, other than Maine, has opened any restaurants for indoor dining. But, beginning on June 1, Maine has allowed indoor dining in 13 of our 16 counties.

Still, I know that announcement was unwelcome news for some restaurant owners in Androscoggin County who had been preparing to fully reopen. I recognize and deplore the impact this has on them. And since then, I have heard people asking: could we have given them a few more days, a little more notice? I would like to have been able to, but we also know that nothing is predictable about this pandemic — except that people will get sick and many will die — and I am trying to balance the ability to provide as much notice as possible with the need to consider the most current public health data and trends available.

Each decision has consequences that are devastating for some, but each decision is intended to protect people from a deadly virus that is often spread in enclosed spaces where people tend to sit for extended periods of time — places, unfortunately, like indoor dining spaces.

The easy thing for me to do would be to ignore the data and say “yes” to everyone who wants to open to the public in every part of the state. But there is nothing easy about any of this, and our decisions are based in fact, science and public health.

I believe the people of Maine expect no less.

Janet Mills is governor of the state of Maine.