BOSTON (WPRI) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the state’s COVID-19 public health emergency will end on May 11.

The date aligns with the end of the national emergency and public health emergencies that President Joe Biden announced earlier this year.

“Thanks to the hard work of our healthcare providers and communities, we’ve made important progress in the fight against COVID-19,” Healey said.

The vaccine mandate for executive branch state workers will also be lifted that day.

“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 added.

“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,” she continued.

Healey said her administration will also be filing legislation that would continue giving health care providers and emergency medical services flexibility with staffing.

According to a news release, the legislation would:

  • Continue flexibilities currently in place regarding staffing for out-of-hospital dialysis centers. This would apply for six 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 six 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 two certified EMTs). This would be a permanent change based on the positive experience of this staffing model over the last three years.

“We are fortunate that in Massachusetts, the wide availability of vaccines, tests, effective treatments, and PPE changed the course of a pandemic that brought loss and hardship to so many,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh said. “Three years on from the start of the pandemic, we are now in a very different place.”