Photo | Courtesy of State House News Service
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey
March 15, 2023
After 22,365 deaths, Healey to end COVID-19 public health emergency
PHOTO/EDD COTE
UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester set up a coronavirus testing tent at its University Campus early in the pandemic.
By Isabel Tehan
The Gov. Maura Healey Administration said Wednesday the state’s public health emergency over the coronavirus pandemic will end on May 11, the same day as the federal COVID-19 emergency will expire. Healey will also rescind the vaccination requirement for executive branch state employees.
The move by Healey will end nearly three years of emergency response to the COVID pandemic, as Gov. Charlie Baker first declared the emergency on March 10, 2020. The response to the airborne infectious disease included masking requirements, shutdowns of schools and businesses, restrictions on gatherings, government loans to help businesses stay afloat, and a coordinated vaccine rollout.
Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts due to COVID-19 on March 10, 2020. In May 2021, he declared a modified public health emergency that remained in place after the formal state of emergency's end on June 15, 2021, giving state public health officials greater flexibility to roll out testing, vaccination and response policies.
Although nearly all restrictions have been lifted for more than two years, the pandemic has altered the economic, health, cultural, and educational landscape in the state, nation, and world.
To date, 22,365 Massachusetts residents have been confirmed to have died of COVID-19, including 61 in the past seven days, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Although the data is not yet finalized, COVID was likely the third leading cause of death in Massachusetts over that time period, after cancer and heart disease, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data analyzed by WBJ.
State law requires 45-day notice for the expiration of the state of emergency. Healey will file legislation to extend some flexibilities the public health emergency allowed for, related to emergency medical services and healthcare industry staffing, according to a Wednesday release from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
“Thanks to the hard work of our health care providers and communities, we’ve made important progress in the fight against COVID-19,” Healey said in the press release. “We know that we have the tools to manage this virus – vaccines, masking, testing, getting treatments, and staying home when sick – and we’ve reached the point where we can update our guidance to reflect where we are now.”
Healey’s planned legislation would allow for the continuation of out-of-hospital dialysis centers and administration of certain prepackaged medications in community settings for an additional six months after the public health emergency ends. Staffing for ambulance transportations will continue to require only one certified EMT in addition to the ambulance driver, a change that would remain permanently based on success of the model throughout the pandemic.
Healey's move will end six public health emergency orders, one of which requires Bay Staters to wear masks in some health care and congregate care settings. The other five public health orders now due to expire deal with health care workplaces and staffing, some of which Healey plans to tackle via separate legislation.
State House News Service contributed to this story.
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