“People have made a lot of progress by doing all the work that they’ve done over the past two years to help kids and those who work with them in schools,” Baker said. “And today’s announcement is another big step forward to safely manage COVID while we get back to what I would describe as the familiar and normal aspects of school and life.”
Baker’s words were echoed by state Jeffrey C. Riley, commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, both in the statement and the later briefing.
“During the past two years, the impact of COVID-19 on children has caused a strain on their mental health, emotional well-being and academic success,” Riley said in the statement. “We are relieved to now be in a place where we can provide young people additional relief from COVID-19 restrictions so they can continue to return to normalcy in the classroom.”
During the briefing, Riley told reporters that officials “believe that removing the mask requirement will make it easier for students to learn, particularly our young readers and students learning English as a second language. While masking is no longer a statewide requirement, we ask all school leaders and students to make sure they respect all individual choices around mask wearing.”
Riley added that officials are “relieved to now be in a place where we can provide young people additional relief from COVID-19 restrictions so they can continue to move towards normalcy in the classroom.” Local school districts will decide whether to keep mask mandates in place, Riley said.
“Local decision making has been, you know, a practice of Massachusetts for a long time,” Riley said. “And at time, the state has had to step in when necessary. But I can’t speak to the future. … The state mask mandate is being lifted, and then what happens next will happen at the local level.”
High vaccination rates in Mass. also make lifting the statewide mandate possible, Baker said.
“In Massachusetts we do have very high vaccination rates among our overall population,” he said. “Very high vaccination rates, again I’m speaking relative to other states, very high vaccination rates for kids who are in school. Most states don’t have a kind of surveillance testing program that we have in place. Most states don’t have pool testing. Most states don’t have take-home tests. We also have one of the lowest hospitalization rates in the country.”
As of Feb. 1, 51 percent of Massachusetts residents aged 5 to 11 had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 83 percent of youths age 12 to 15 and 82 percent of teens 16 to 19 have, according to the most recent data posted to the DPH website.
The statement said masking continues to be required on all school buses, per a federal order.
The Department of Early Education and Care will also lift mask requirements currently in place for all licensed child care providers effective February 28, and let programs develop policies specific to the children they serve, officials said, and DESE will release additional guidance for programs next week.
Officials said data collected in recent months from the state’s Test and Stay shows students and staff individually identified as asymptomatic close contacts and repeatedly tested in school test negative more than 90 percent of the time.
“Schools are safe environments, most children now have had access to vaccinations that greatly reduce the risk for severe disease for several months, and thousands of families across the Commonwealth have taken this opportunity to protect their children,” said Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito in the statement. “This is the right time to lift the mask mandate, and we will continue to encourage vaccination and host clinics at any school that wants to hold one to further protect their students from COVID.”
The move comes as additional local mask mandates for indoor public spaces have recently gone by the wayside in various communities.
On Tuesday, Salem became the latest community to axe its masking order, when the Board of Health voted unanimously to rescind its December indoor mask mandate as well as a separate rule requiring customers of businesses like restaurants, bars, and gyms to show proof of vaccination.
“The Salem Board of Health has and will always make decisions on Covid mitigation based upon the science and data available,” said Dr. Jeremy Schiller, the board chair, in a statement. “These metrics are analyzed on a daily basis and consequently, given the current local hospitalization numbers and ICU capacity, it warranted revisiting these measures.”
His words were echoed by Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll.
“COVID has taken the lives of 115 of our neighbors here in Salem and impacted the lives of many thousands more here,” Driscoll said in the statement. “I am incredibly grateful for the expertise and thoughtfulness of our Board of Health. They have and will continue to make decisions driven by science and data, aimed at protecting public health in the best interest of our community.”
The ending of the orders in Salem came one day after Worcester’s Board of Health voted to rescind its citywide mask mandate, following other communities that have made similar moves as COVID-19 cases decline.
By a 3-2 margin, the Worcester panel chose to remove the indoor mask requirement effective Feb. 18, just before Presidents’ Day weekend.
In Lowell, the city’s indoor mask mandate was rescinded Feb. 2, but officials said in a statement that masks “are still required in school and City buildings.”
Malden, meanwhile, rescinded its mask mandate last week, citing declining virus and hospitalization numbers and increased vaccine access, according to an executive order signed by Mayor Gary Christenson and Health Board director Christopher Webb.
In Mansfield, officials last week rescinded a town mandate requiring people to wear face coverings in indoor public locations. The change took effect Monday.
The trend is similar in other states.
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, announced Monday that a statewide mask mandate in schools will be lifted effective March 7.
And The New York Times reported Monday that Connecticut will allow students and staff members to stop wearing masks in schools by no later than Feb. 28, after Gov. Ned Lamont recommended the statewide mask mandate end that day.
The governors of Delaware and Oregon also made announcements on Monday about relaxing mask mandates at the end of March, and California officials said that state’s universal mask mandate for indoor public places would be lifted next week, the Times reported.
The CDC says on its website that masks remain a vital tool in the battle against the once-in-a-generation global health crisis.
The CDC site says people older than 2 should mask up in indoor public places if they’re not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, if they’re fully vaccinated but in an area with substantial or high transmission, or if they’re fully vaccinated with weakened immune systems.
You’re considered fully vaccinated once you have two shots of the Pfizer of Moderna vaccine or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson poke.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.