MA Group Pushes To Keep Mask Mandate In Healthcare Settings

MASSACHUSETTS — A new group composed of doctors, disability advocates and parents want state officials to keep a mask mandate in place for health facilities ahead of a May expiration date.

Last month, Gov. Maura Healey announced she would let the state's last remaining public health orders related to the COVID-19 expire on May 11, the same date the federal pandemic emergency is ending.

One key provision that would go away after that date: a mask mandate for healthcare facilities like doctor's offices, hospitals and nursing homes.

The MA Coalition for Health Equity held a news conference Wednesday calling on the state to keep the healthcare mask requirement in place. The group also wants the state to keep PCR testing sites open. The state shuttered the last 11 "Stop the Spread" testing sites on March 30.

The end of the mask requirement could especially harm disabled people, the group said, because they may have to visit healthcare facilities more often, exposing them to COVID-19.

"Without surveillance testing and universal masking, [COVID-19 outbreaks] can get rapidly out of control. At this stage of the pandemic, complications from COVID-19 most commonly occur among people who are elderly and immunocompromised. This decision is a value statement from our healthcare facilities and public health authorities," Harvard Medical School infectious disease physician Dr. Amir Mohareb said in a news release.

In response to the push, a spokesperson for the Office of Health and Human Services told the Boston Globe that the end of the mask requirement was done in consultation with infectious disease doctors and healthcare companies.

The state is still adding a hefty number of cases each week — just over 2,000 in the week ending March 30 — although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now classifies every county in the state as having a "low" risk of transmission.