Governor Announces End of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

Print Story | Email Story
BOSTON — Today, March 15, the Healey-Driscoll Administration announced that the state's COVID-19 public health emergency will end on May 11, 2023, to align with the end of the federal public health emergency. 
 
The announcement this week, ahead of the 45-day notice required by state law, allows additional time for impacted organizations to prepare for the end of the public health emergency. 
 
Governor Healey will also file legislation that would extend key flexibilities provided by the public health emergency, particularly around staffing for the health care industry and emergency medical services (EMS). The Governor also announced that on May 11 she plans to rescind Executive Order 595 that required all Executive Branch state employees to have received their primary series COVID-19 vaccines. 
 
"Thanks to the hard work of our health care providers and communities, we've made important progress in the fight against COVID-19," said Governor Healey. "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. I'd also like to acknowledge the leadership of Governor Baker and his administration, who saved countless lives by putting these important measures in place in a time of immense crisis." 
 
Governor Healey's legislation would:  
  • Continue flexibilities currently in place regarding staffing for out-of-hospital dialysis centers. This would apply for 6 months to allow dialysis centers time to return to pre-COVID staffing levels.    
  • Authorize certain non-Medication Administration Program (MAP) certified staff to administer certain prepackaged medications in community settings. This would apply for 6 months to enable DPH to finalize reforms that streamline the MAP program training requirements. 
  • Allow staffing of Advanced Life Support level ambulance transports with a single EMT provider and a first responder driver (rather than 2 certified EMTs). This would be a permanent change based on the positive experience of this staffing model over the last three years. 

Executive Order No. 595 helped raise the percentage of fully vaccinated executive department employees from around 76 percent to over 99 percent. Mandates for staff in certain roles and settings will remain in place, per CMS and EOHHS regulations. 

"Executive Order No. 595 has been a successful tool for boosting vaccination rates and reducing the spread and severity of COVID-19 in Massachusetts. We're grateful to the state employees who did their part to keep themselves, their coworkers and their communities safe," said Lieutenant Governor Driscoll. "We encourage Massachusetts residents to continue taking important prevention measures to keep our communities healthy, like getting boosted, masking and staying home when you're feeling sick." 
 

Tags: COVID-19,   


More Coronavirus Updates

Keep up to date on the latest COVID-19 news:


If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Companion Corner: Fox at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a sweet and energetic dog at the Berkshire Humane Society waiting for his new family.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

Fox is a 3-year-old Pomeranian who has been at the shelter for about a month.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Fox. 

"He's a bundle of joy. He would love a family who's home with him a lot, because he's just, he's very social and wants to be with his people a lot. And he would be fun to bring out and about, bring a lot of places, because he's very happy to go anywhere," she said.

When Fox enters the room he is immediately a puffball of energy that goes around and around the room.

He came to the shelter after his former owner could not take care of him anymore. 

"The owner was just not able to care for him anymore. Had he came in with another dog, Wolf, and she already did find her forever home just last week," said Olivieri. "The two of them were left with a friend of the original owner, and the owner did not come back to pick them up, and the friend had too many animals in the house, and too much going on, and she just couldn't continue to look after them, so they did end up coming to us."

Fox can go home with cats and children but is not recommended to go home with other dogs as he gets too excited.

"He would love a home where people are home quite a bit to give him all the attention that he so desires. He loves kids. He absolutely adores children. So he would like a home with kids to play with. He could live with cats. We are saying that he should not live with other dogs. The only reason is that he gets very humpy, and he does not leave the other dogs alone," she said.

With his energy it is recommended he goes to a home that can keep him active whether walks or hikes and even fetch in the yard.

Fox does need to learn more about walking on a leash and has a tendency to mark in the house but he was recently neutered. Olivieri said belly bands will be sent home with whoever adopts him to help prevent marking and managing it.

"He would like an active home. He really does like to go for walks daily. He likes to run around in the yard. He does need a little work on leash walking. He sometimes gets a little tangled still under your feet, and he's learning how to walk on a leash," she said. "So, someone who's got some patience and some time to work on some training with him."

"He also is not fully potty trained, so he does know to go potty outside. However, he will still mark, urinate in the house sometimes, and he might poop here and there in the house."

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories