COVID regulations in Massachusetts look very different in 2026 than they did during the pandemic. The statewide COVID-19 state of emergency ended on June 15, 2021, when Governor Charlie Baker’s administration rescinded most pandemic-related executive orders and lifted nearly all business restrictions.1Mass.gov. COVID-19 State of Emergency Mask mandates, capacity limits, gathering caps, and the healthcare worker vaccination requirement are no longer in force. What remains is a narrower set of Department of Public Health guidance aimed at healthcare settings, the permanent public health statutes that existed before the pandemic, and federal workplace protections that continue to shape how employers handle illness and accommodation.
What’s Still in Effect in 2026
The Department of Public Health has kept a small group of COVID-specific directives, and they are almost entirely focused on healthcare and congregate care settings. Current directives 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
Two shifts are worth noting for anyone tracking what has been rolled back. Congregate care surveillance testing ended on March 31, 2023. Since August 2022, non-healthcare residential programs and shelters have been told to follow the general public isolation and exposure guidance rather than a COVID-specific protocol.
The healthcare worker vaccination mandate that operated during the emergency is now a recommendation. DPH “strongly recommends” that all healthcare personnel be vaccinated against COVID-19 and flu in line with CDC recommendations, rather than requiring it.3Mass.gov. COVID-19 and Flu Vaccination Reports for Healthcare Personnel
Standing Public Health Authority
The absence of active COVID orders does not mean state and local officials lack tools. Two statutes give Massachusetts broad public health authority that predates and outlasted the pandemic.
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 6 gives the Department of Public Health the power to define which diseases are dangerous to public health and to issue rules and regulations for controlling and preventing them.4General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111 Section 6 That authority is permanent. It does not require an emergency declaration to activate.
Chapter 17, Section 2A is the emergency-tied statute. Once the governor declares an emergency detrimental to public health, 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.5General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Code Chapter 17 Section 2A – Powers of Commissioner Upon Declaration of Emergency With no emergency in place, the commissioner’s enhanced powers under this section are dormant.
Local boards of health retain significant 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.6General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111 Section 95 These are standing authorities that could be used in a future outbreak without any new emergency declaration.
If a local board issues a health order, the enforcement mechanics run through separate statutes. Municipalities use Chapter 40, Section 21D to impose noncriminal fines for violating local ordinances, bylaws, or regulations of municipal boards, capped at $300 per violation through the noncriminal disposition process.7General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40 Section 21D Chapter 111, Section 104 covers obstructing a board of health or tampering with public health notices, with fines between $10 and $100.8General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111 Section 104
Workplace Rules That Still Apply
Massachusetts has no COVID-specific paid leave law in effect, but employer obligations around illness have not disappeared. They now flow from ordinary state employment law and federal workplace safety rules.
Earned Sick Time
The state’s general earned sick time law covers COVID-19 absences along with other illnesses. 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 provide this as paid leave. Smaller employers must allow the time off but are not required to pay for it.9Mass.gov. Frequently Asked Questions About COVID-19 Employee Rights and Employer Obligations If an employer requires a specific vaccination appointment at a specific time and place, that time counts as compensable working time under Massachusetts law.
Federal OSHA Standards
OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, which applied to employers with 100 or more workers, was withdrawn effective January 26, 2022.10Federal Register. COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard No COVID-specific OSHA standard currently applies to most private employers. OSHA’s general duty clause and its permanent respiratory protection standard at 29 CFR 1910.134 still require employers to protect workers from recognized respiratory hazards. Where engineering controls are insufficient, employers must provide suitable respirators at no cost to workers and maintain a written respiratory protection program.11Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection
OSHA penalties still bite. Maximum fines reach $16,550 for a serious violation and $165,514 for willful or repeated violations at the most recent adjustment.12Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
HIPAA and Vaccination Questions
A common misunderstanding: HIPAA does not stop an employer, school, store, or restaurant from asking whether you are vaccinated. The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies only to covered entities such as health plans, healthcare clearinghouses, and healthcare providers that conduct standard electronic transactions. It has no application when a non-covered entity asks an individual about vaccination status.13U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. HIPAA, COVID-19 Vaccination, and the Workplace Whether disclosure is required in a particular context is a matter for other state and federal laws.
Exemptions After Groff v. DeJoy
Any vaccination requirement still imposed by a private employer or institution has to be evaluated against two federal laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodation for qualifying disabilities unless the accommodation creates an undue hardship. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act requires the same for sincerely held religious beliefs.14U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Reaches $15 Million Conciliation Agreement to Resolve Discrimination Claims Related to COVID-19 Vaccinations
The standard for undue hardship changed in 2023. In Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the earlier rule that treated anything beyond a trivial cost as sufficient hardship. An employer must now show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in “substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”15Supreme Court of the United States. Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023) The higher bar makes it harder to deny religious accommodation requests, and it applies to any remaining vaccine policies private employers or institutions maintain.
What Ended With the Emergency
To close the loop on rules that people sometimes still ask about: the mask mandates issued through executive orders in 2020 and 2021 were all rescinded by Order No. 69 on May 29, 2021. Gathering caps and sector capacity limits were lifted the same day, and all industries were permitted to open at 100 percent capacity. The only face-covering requirements left at that point applied to public and private transportation systems and facilities housing vulnerable populations.16Mass.gov. Reopening Massachusetts Those transportation requirements have since ended as well.
Court challenges to the pandemic orders largely failed while the orders were active. Courts pointed to the broad emergency powers under Chapter 17, Section 2A and the longer tradition of state authority to require vaccination during public health emergencies stretching back to Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905). Those precedents remain on the books and would frame any future litigation if Massachusetts declared another public health emergency and reimposed similar measures.