COVID

Massachusetts exempts 4 more states from travel rules requiring visitors to quarantine

The updated list takes effect Saturday.

A sign urging out-of-state visitors to quarantine for 14 days on the Zakim Bridge in Boston, April 10, 2020. Charles Krupa / AP

By Nik DeCosta-Klipa

August 28, 2020

Massachusetts is making four additions to the list of states from which visitors are exempt from Gov. Charlie Baker’s strict quarantine rules.

In a tweet Friday afternoon, the Department of Public Health announced that, effective Saturday, travelers from Colorado, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia no longer have to quarantine for 14 days or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the past 72 hours upon visiting Massachusetts, after the four states were moved to a lower-risk category.

DPH officials cited recent decreases in the states’ positive test rates and cases per 100,000 residents, based on public COVID-19 tracking data. To be exempt from the quarantine rules, states must meet two criteria: a positive COVID-19 test rate below 5 percent and new daily cases per 100,000 residents below six, both of which are measured on a seven-day rolling average.

Travelers arriving from these states will no longer need to fill out the MA Travel Form and follow quarantine rules under the travel order. Please visit https://t.co/A3A2CeAiV0 for more info.

— Mass. Public Health (@MassDPH) August 28, 2020

The announcement Friday is the first time that Massachusetts has exempted additional states from the travel rules since Baker made violations fineable of up to $500 last month. Since then, Rhode Island and Hawaii have been taken off the exempt list, due to increases in coronavirus rates in those states this month.

In addition to the four newly added states, the current list includes Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey.

The Department of Public Health announced Friday that Colorado, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will be added to the list of lower-risk states, effective 12:01 a.m. on August 29.

There are some exceptions for travelers from the 39 states that remain on the list (which is particularly relevant for people living near the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border), such as transitory travel, regular commutes to work or school, and essential trips like grocery shopping or medical care.