Maine recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 12, 2020, one year ago this week.

Since that first positive test, more than 45,000 Maine residents have been diagnosed with the disease and more than 700 of them have died.

As the virus spread, the economy crashed, and nearly 50,000 Mainers are still receiving unemployment benefits while others are struggle with reduced hours and smaller paychecks.  The unemployment rate is climbing back from its low point in May, but at 5 percent, it is still nearly double what it was at the end of 2019.

Both the virus and its economic fallout have disproportionately affected low-wage workers and people of color. The virus has exposed a neglected public health infrastructure and holes in the social safety net.

Over the last year, everyone has been touched in some way by this pandemic. To some degree, everyone’s life has been disrupted.

As Gov. Mills said in her State of the Budget speech last month, “We have been tested.”

It might be too early to get a final grade on that test, but if we were giving a midterm progress report, it would say something like: “Good effort, keep it up!”

With so many lives lost, there is nothing to celebrate, and the trend in new cases may look positive because it’s down from the post-holiday peak in January. But we are still averaging more than 150 new cases a day.

But considering how little we knew a year ago about this disease, Mainers have a lot to be thankful for.

We have consistently been among the safest states in the country during the three peaks of the pandemic so far. That wasn’t a given.

A virus that attacks older adults and people with underlying health conditions seemed like a missile aimed at Maine, the state with the oldest population and high rates of chronic diseases like asthma.

A State of Emergency order issued early on by Mills, strict limits on gatherings and a statewide mask order all contributed to keeping the virus at bay.

Restrictions on out-of-state visitors – first a quarantine order and then a testing requirement – allowed Maine to get through the summer tourist season while keeping cases under control.

Restaurants, music venues, hotels and other businesses have suffered from the disruption. But Maine’s low case numbers, relative to other states that did not try to slow the spread of the virus, show that their sacrifice paid off. North Dakota, which has about half of Maine’s population, has had more than twice as many deaths and had the most confirmed COVID cases per capita in the U.S. as of March 3, which can be attributed to the resistance of the state’s governor to instituting public health protections.

As we go into the last phase of the fight against COVID-19, Maine has room for improvement in one important area – the distribution of vaccines.

While we rank among the best states for controlling the spread of the virus, we are in the middle of the pack when it comes to getting vaccines into the arms of state residents.

There is still no statewide registration system where Mainers can sign up for a vaccine, leaving everyone to navigate a confusing landscape with many different providers.

Part of the problem has been a shortage of vaccine doses, which should improve in the coming weeks. But Maine lags many states in the rate at which it has administered the doses that it has received.

A year later, we are still being tested by COVID.

The pandemic is not over, but there is good reason to believe that the end is in sight.

When it is over, there will be lessons to take away from this experience. One should be a renewed belief in the need for competent government during an emergency. Quick action and clear communication by state officials have saved lives. Rants about big-government overreach are answered by our relatively low rates of sickness.

We have learned a lot in this last year, even if for now our grade for this test is still “incomplete.”

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