COVID regulations in Massachusetts have been scaled back to a narrow set of healthcare-facility directives since the statewide emergency ended on June 15, 2021. On that date, Governor Charlie Baker’s administration rescinded most pandemic-related executive orders and lifted nearly all business restrictions.1Mass.gov. COVID-19 State of Emergency The mask mandates, capacity limits, gathering caps, and vaccination requirements that defined the pandemic response are no longer in force. What remains is guidance aimed mostly at hospitals and long-term care, the same permanent public health statutes the state has had on the books for decades, and federal workplace rules that still shape how employers handle illness and accommodation.
What’s Still in Effect in 2026
The Department of Public Health maintains a limited set of COVID-specific directives, almost all tied to healthcare settings. As of early 2026, these include guidance for healthcare personnel with a respiratory viral infection or exposure (updated August 2025), precaution signs for isolated individuals in long-term care facilities (updated January 2026), hospital capacity data reporting, and a standing order for dispensing over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic tests.2Mass.gov. COVID-19 Public Health Guidance and Directives
Several pandemic-era programs have already been wound down. Congregate care surveillance testing ended on March 31, 2023. Non-healthcare residential programs and shelters have followed general public isolation and exposure guidance since August 2022, rather than any COVID-specific protocol.
For the general public, there are no state mask requirements, no gathering limits, no capacity caps, and no vaccination requirements tied to COVID-19. Businesses operate without sector-specific pandemic restrictions.
Healthcare Worker Vaccination: Now a Recommendation
The healthcare worker vaccination mandate that existed during the emergency has been replaced with guidance. DPH now strongly recommends that all healthcare personnel be vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu in accordance with CDC recommendations, rather than requiring it.3Mass.gov. COVID-19 and Flu Vaccination Reports for Healthcare Personnel Individual hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare employers may still impose their own vaccination policies as a condition of employment, but those policies are the employer’s, not the state’s.
Employer Obligations Around COVID and Illness
Even without an active state emergency, Massachusetts employers face continuing obligations connected to employee illness. These come from a mix of state employment law and federal safety rules.
Earned Sick Time
Massachusetts has no COVID-specific paid leave law still in force, but the state’s general earned sick time law covers COVID-related absences the same way it covers any other illness. Employees earn one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year. Employers with 11 or more employees must pay for that time; smaller employers must allow the time off but are not required to pay for it.4Mass.gov. Frequently Asked Questions About COVID-19 Employee Rights and Employer Obligations If an employer requires an employee to get vaccinated at a specific time and place, the time counts as compensable working time under Massachusetts law.
OSHA Standards
OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, which had applied to employers with 100 or more workers, was withdrawn effective January 26, 2022.5Federal Register. COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard No COVID-specific OSHA rule currently applies to most private employers.
What continues to apply is OSHA’s general duty clause and the permanent respiratory protection standard at 29 CFR 1910.134, which require employers to protect workers from recognized respiratory hazards. Where engineering controls are not enough, employers must provide suitable respirators at no cost to employees and run a written respiratory protection program.6Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection Penalties are substantial: up to $16,550 for a serious violation and $165,514 for willful or repeated violations.7Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
Vaccination Status and HIPAA
A persistent misconception is that HIPAA bars employers from asking about vaccination status. It doesn’t. The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies only to covered entities such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that conduct standard electronic transactions. It does not apply when an employer, school, store, or restaurant asks someone about vaccination status.8U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. HIPAA, COVID-19 Vaccination, and the Workplace Other laws may limit when disclosure can be required, but HIPAA is not one of them.
Exemption Rights Under Current Law
Where an employer or institution still requires COVID-19 vaccination, two federal laws govern exemptions. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodation for qualifying disabilities unless doing so causes undue hardship. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires the same for sincerely held religious beliefs.9U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Reaches $15 Million Conciliation Agreement to Resolve Discrimination Claims Related to COVID-19 Vaccinations
The religious accommodation standard changed significantly in 2023. In Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the old rule that treated anything more than a trivial cost as sufficient to deny accommodation. An employer must now show that granting the accommodation would cause “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”10Supreme Court of the United States. Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023) That higher bar makes it harder to turn down a religious exemption request and applies to any remaining private vaccine policies.
What Happened to the Pandemic-Era Orders
Governor Baker issued dozens of COVID-19 executive orders between March 2020 and May 2021. Order No. 69, issued May 29, 2021, rescinded the layered mask requirements that had evolved under earlier orders. By that same date, all industries were permitted to open at 100 percent capacity and all sector-specific restrictions were lifted. The only remaining face-covering requirements at that point applied to public and private transportation systems and facilities housing vulnerable populations.11Mass.gov. Reopening Massachusetts Those transportation and vulnerable-facility requirements have since also wound down as part of the shift to the current healthcare-focused guidance.
Gathering limits, the 9:30 PM curfew on gatherings, the 25 percent capacity rule, and the formal four-phase reopening framework are all historical. They expired with the emergency and have not been reinstated.
The Standing Authorities That Could Be Used Again
One thing to understand about Massachusetts public health law: the state did not need a brand-new statute to run its pandemic response, and it would not need one to respond to a future outbreak. The underlying authority is permanent.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 6 gives the Department of Public Health standing power to define which diseases are dangerous to public health and issue rules and regulations for controlling them.12General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111 Section 6 That authority predates the pandemic by decades and remains fully in effect.
Chapter 17, Section 2A is the enhanced-powers statute. Once the governor declares a public health emergency, the Commissioner of Public Health can take whatever action and incur whatever liabilities are deemed necessary to maintain public health and prevent disease, subject to approval from the governor and the Public Health Council.13General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 17 Section 2A – Powers of Commissioner Upon Declaration of Emergency This is the engine behind most of the COVID-era mandates. It can be restarted by a new emergency declaration.
Local boards of health retain their own standing authority under Chapter 111, Section 95. They can isolate infected individuals, designate hospitals or places of reception, and impose regulations on households connected to someone with a disease dangerous to public health. That same section requires towns to compensate resident wage earners whose employment is disrupted by a required quarantine, at three-quarters of their regular wages.14General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111 Section 95 These powers do not require a declared emergency to be exercised.
So the current picture is this: active COVID-specific rules are narrow and mostly limited to healthcare settings; employer obligations around sick leave, workplace safety, and accommodation requests continue under general law; and the state retains the full statutory toolkit it would need to impose broader measures again if public health conditions warranted.