coronavirus

Mass. Travel Rules: No Need to Quarantine After Getting the Vaccine

Two weeks after their final shot, people who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be required to quarantine or test negative for COVID-19 when visiting the Bay State

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The rules are changing for inoculated people who are traveling to Massachusetts.

Two weeks after their final shot, people who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be required to quarantine or test negative for COVID-19 when visiting the Bay State, health officials announced Wednesday.

They will have to be able to show they've been vaccinated, and when, if asked about it, according to the new guidance.

However, vaccinated people with symptoms of COVID-19 must continue to follow the testing and quarantine rules that are already in place.

Dr. Shira Doron, an epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, warned that just because the restrictions have eased a bit, it doesn’t mean people should start traveling around the world.

Doron pointed to guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

"The CDC and the Mass. DPH are still saying, 'Just don’t travel right now yet,' because of concern about variant virus," Doron said, "and the very small risk that you could have asymptomatic infection - potentially with variant virus - and bring it from a location of higher prevalence to a location of lower prevalence."

The full travel rules are available on the Massachusetts travel order website.

There are only four U.S. states and one American territory with low enough COVID-19 rates that Massachusetts health officials are allowing non-vaccinated people to travel from without quarantine. They are Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Missouri and Puerto Rico.

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