Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday signed an executive order rescinding more than a year of pandemic protocols that restricted business and school operations.
The governor cited the dramatic drop in new cases and hospitalizations since the earlier in the year and the state's progress in vaccinating the population.
"Thanks to the people Massachusetts who made enormous sacrifices over the course of the past year to get us to this point, brighter days are very much upon us," he said at his Friday COVID-19 update. "We've been battling the virus for too long, but today we have an opportunity to put an exclamation point on all the hard work that so many people have done and continue to move Massachusetts forward together."