CT DPH Loosens Some Mask Mandates, Tightens Vaccine Distribution

CONNECTICUT — The Connecticut Department of Public Health has announced that three state COVID-related orders were terminated at midnight on Friday, April 15.

Up until the end of last week, wearing masks was mandatory in health care settings and facilities, inside homeless shelters and inside schools if the local school board or similar authority requires it. The provisions regarding use of masks in schools will continue to June 30, 2022, but the other mask mandates in the order expired as of midnight Apr. 15.

Your dental hygienist is no longer allowed to administer the coronavirus vaccine. During the big effort to get needles into arms at the height of the pandemic, the rules for who could give the jab were relaxed to include, among others, current and retired traditional and non-traditional healthcare professionals and students in healthcare programs. Although the order has ended, all the health care professionals authorized under the Health Department's order may continue to administer the vaccine, except for dental hygienists.

A pandemic-era order afforded additional periods of time for temporary permits and post graduate practice in some health care professions before licensure, and modified supervision requirements for advance practice registered nurses and physician assistants. Those changes reverted to original doctrine as of April 16.

"We are in a far different place than we were in March 2020 thanks to the tools we have at our disposal including COVID-19 vaccines, boosters, state supported testing sites and the availability of self-tests," Connecticut Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said. "And while we are learning to live with this virus and when we should ramp up and ramp down with our preparedness, we are able to move on from these orders which served a very important purpose."