Massachusetts updates mask advisory, activates National Guard to support strained hospitals

Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration is once again recommending that all individuals in Massachusetts — regardless of vaccination status — wear a face covering in indoor public spaces.

The state’s Department of Public Health announced the updated mask advisory Tuesday morning, as the omicron variant becomes the dominant strain of COVID-19 and a rising number of hospitalizations puts a strain on an understaffed health care system in the midst of the holiday season.

The advisory particularly urges individuals to wear a mask if they have a weakened immune system, face increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19 because of their age or an underlying medical condition, or live with someone who is high risk or unvaccinated.

Baker’s administration also ordered all Massachusetts hospitals to postpone or cancel all nonessential elective procedures (earlier this month, the state had ordered hospitals facing capacity constraints to reduce such procedures by 50 percent). And the Republican governor will activate up to 500 members of the Massachusetts National Guard to provide non-clinical support to hospitals and transport systems.

“There’s no question the next few weeks will be enormously difficult for our healthcare community,” Baker said during a press conference Tuesday morning at the State House in Boston.

“There are staff shortages, sicker patients, and fewer step down beds available, because of those staff shortages,” he said. “The steps we’re announcing today are designed to support them so that they can continue to care for patients.”

Massachusetts reported 13,717 new COVID-19 cases over the past three days, with hospitalizations due to the disease surpassing 1,500 for the first time since early February. State data shows that over 90 percent of the 8,764 available hospital beds in Massachusetts are currently occupied.

For weeks, as COVID-19 cases rose, Baker has faced pressure from public health experts and local elected officials to reimpose a statewide mask mandate to stem the spike in infections, as many cities and towns in Massachusetts did so on their own, creating a patchwork of differing rules.

The updated mask advisory doesn’t have the legal authority of a mandate; similar to the state’s most recent mask mandate, there is no threat of fines or enforcement for those who disregard the recommendation.

Instead, the Baker administration has continued to emphasize vaccination as the path out of the pandemic, including the current omicron spike.

The state released data Monday showing that, while 2 percent of all vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts have been infected with COVID-19, nearly 97 percent of those breakthrough cases did not result in death or hospitalization.

Since late August, unvaccinated individuals have been five times as likely to contract COVID-19 than fully vaccinated individuals — and 31 times more likely to get the disease than those who have gotten a booster shot.

The review also found that 99.9 percent of breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated people under the age of 60 did not result in death; for those over 60, over 97 percent of breakthrough cases did not result in death. And no deaths have been reported in breakthrough cases among those under the age of 30.

Officials reiterated Tuesday that getting a vaccine and booster remain the best way to protect against serious illness or hospitalization from COVID-19.

“I know we are all feeling the pangs of pandemic fatigue,” Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said during the press conference Tuesday.

“But as we all prepare to gather with our loved ones, a traditional long overdue and that has been interrupted by the COVID 19 pandemic, it’s important for all of us to remember that the vaccine and boosters are highly effective at protecting against serious illness, hospitalization and death,” Sudders said.

State data shows that over 89 percent of the entire Massachusetts population has at least one dose of the vaccine (including 94 percent of residents over the age of 5) and that 74 percent of the entire population is fully vaccinated.