Mills, a Democrat, said the move was to "help alleviate short-term capacity constraints at hospitals and maintain access to inpatient health care services for Maine people amid a sustained surge of COVID-19."

One of the most-vaccinated states in the country, Maine has seen COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations increase in recent weeks.

Out of 379 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Maine as of Dec. 8, 117 were in critical care and 60 were on ventilators.

Most are not vaccinated, according to state data.

At the same time, the bulk of inpatient beds were not being used for COVID-19 patients, according to data reported to the Department of Health and Human Services by state facilities.

Dr. Andrew Mueller, CEO of MaineHealth, said hospitalizations for COVID-19 in the healthcare system are the highest ever.

Mueller told reporters in a virtual briefing that a shortage of workers is affecting facilities in addition to the rising number of COVID-19 cases and an "incredible demand for other, non-COVID services."

Hundreds of workers quit or were fired due to Mills' COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which the Supreme Court declined to block, Maine hospital systems have told news outlets.

In addition to the workers lost, many workers either have COVID-19 or are being investigated for possible COVID-19, forcing them to miss work, healthcare executives said. They also described a national shortage of qualified workers.