Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday activated the state’s National Guard to go to hospitals and help workers after her COVID-19 vaccine mandate caused hundreds of nurses and other healthcare employees to leave their jobs or get fired. 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 U.S. government by hospitals. Dr. Andrew Mueller, CEO of …