COVID-19 emergency to end in Massachusetts on Thursday
BOSTON - The state's public health emergency order - put in place when the COVID-19 pandemic began - will end on Thursday.
When the order ends, Massachusetts health care providers, patients and visitors will no longer be required to wear masks. Officials with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said they asked facilities to be proactive and think about what could prompt them to increase COVID-19 prevention measures in the future.
DPH Commissioner Robert Goldstein, MD, Ph.D. said, "We ask them to look at what's happening in their EDs, what's happening with our hospital capacities, what's happening with wastewater in their communities, so that if and when COVID-19 levels increase in the future, there is a pathway back to masking."
The federal government will still pick up the cost of COVID-19 vaccines. Officials say prevention and adapting to living with the virus will remain priorities.
Since March 2020, Massachusetts has had more than 2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 22,600 deaths.
