Cambridge officials urge residents to wear masks as COVID breakthrough cases climb

The rise in Cambridge comes as state and local health officials battle an increase in the number of cases in Cape Town and the Islands, particularly in Provincetown where a cluster rose to 256 confirmed cases on Tuesday. Of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus, 190 are residents of Massachusetts and 109 live in Barnstable County.

The Nantucket Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice on Wednesday asking residents and visitors to wear face masks indoors in public places when they cannot be physically away from others.

Boston officials are also reporting an increase in the number of new daily cases, but the numbers have not reached a level high enough to cause major concern.

Cambridge officials continue to encourage residents to get vaccinated while noting that vaccines are not guaranteed to prevent infection but may help protect against severe symptoms. About 67% of residents were fully immunized by July 15 and 73% of residents had received at least one dose, according to the city’s COVID-19 data center.

“Even among people with breakthrough infections, vaccines have been shown to be extremely effective in preventing serious illness and death,” Cambridge officials said in the statement. “It’s important to remember that no vaccine offers 100% protection against the disease. “

The updated immunization data is expected to be released by the state later Thursday.

Health officials in neighboring communities are also reporting an increase in cases.

In Boston, a total of 208 new cases were reported last week, up from 62 cases the week before, according to data from the Boston Public Health Commission. As of Wednesday, there had been 210 positive cases this week.

The city was reporting a daily average of 38.6 new cases as of July 17, a sharp increase from July 3, when the average was just nine new cases per day, according to Marty Martinez, chief of health services and social services of the city.

“We think part of what we’ve seen in recent weeks has come from the July 4 vacation, as more and more people gathered in groups,” Martinez said. “And the weather was bad [during the holiday weekend] so probably more people gathered inside than we probably would have liked.

None of the city’s measures used to monitor the virus are above the city’s “concern thresholds”, he said.

Martinez said the goal is to stay below 67 positive tests per day, which is still well below the threshold of around 340 cases per day. He said the city crossed that threshold in the spring of 2020 and “several times” during the winter wave.

Nearly 60% of Boston’s residents had been fully immunized by July 13, a total of 405,670 people, the city said in a statement. Tweeter Thusday. About 66% of residents had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of July 13, Martinez said.

“I feel good about the progress we have made and there is still work to be done,” he said, noting a gap in vaccination rates among young people and between racial and ethnic groups.

In Boston, 44% of black residents and 46% of Latinx residents have been fully immunized. Residents of Asia and the Pacific Islands are the most vaccinated group with 73.4% as of July 13, and 60% of white residents are vaccinated, according to city data. The city’s Native American vaccination rate was 34%.

Martinez said 60% of the cases were in people between the ages of 28 and 39, which is “higher than it has been throughout the pandemic.”

“We still need young Bostonians to get vaccinated,” he said.

Martinez said the department was also focusing on increasing vaccinations in Mattapan, where 39.9% of residents were fully vaccinated as of July 13, the lowest rate among neighborhoods in Boston. The South End had the highest vaccination rate at 72.5%, according to city data.

Somerville has seen a slight increase in the number of new cases, according to Doug Kress, the city’s director of health and social services.

“We weren’t seeing a lot of pop-ups and had days with zero new cases, but lately we’re seeing a slight increase with four to seven cases per day,” Kress said. “We are keeping an eye on this. We are also seeing an increase in the number of people who want to be tested, whether it is because they have been exposed or have heard of the Delta variant. “

About 71% of Somerville residents were fully immunized as of July 13, according to data from the city’s website.

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Nick Stoico can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @NickStoico.