SARS-COV-2 Public Health Compliance and Mitigation Standards
Click here to view the current version of the COVID-19 standards
The Office of the Ombudsman (Office) developed these SARS-COV-2 Public Health Compliance and Mitigation Standards (COVID-19 Standards) principally based on guidance and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, as well as in consultation with UMass Chan Medical School infection prevention advisors.
Based on scientific evidence, these Office-established COVID-19 Standards are current as of the date listed above. The then-current COVID-19 Standards are to be utilized as a metric against which DOC COVID-19 mitigation efforts will be measured in the Office’s reporting to both the Massachusetts State Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary and the Joint Committee on Public Health.
The Office will continue to monitor and update these established COVID-19 Standards as the evolving COVID-19 pandemic requires. Accordingly, these COVID-19 Standards are subject to change, at the Office’s discretion, and new, updated versions of the COVID-19 Standards will be issued as necessary. Additional standards may be added as essential information develops.
The COVID-19 Standards document includes a section entitled “Resources” that provides a collection of relevant third-party documentation. When subsequent revisions are made to these COVID-19 Standards, a section entitled “Revisions” will be added to the end of the document that will track updates from the last version.
MA DOC Staff and Inmate Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines
Click here to view the current version of the guidelines
Version Dated: December 16, 2022
The Office has published its Massachusetts Department of Correction Staff and Inmate COVID-19 Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines (Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines) to provide a unified approach to testing, isolating, and quarantining vaccinated and unvaccinated DOC staff and incarcerated individuals.
As with the Office-established COVID-19 Standards above, the Office will continue to monitor and update these Office-established Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines as the evolving COVID-19 pandemic requires. Accordingly, the Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines are subject to change, at the Office’s discretion, and new, updated versions of the Quarantine, Isolation, and Testing Guidelines will be issued as necessary.