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Other communities in Cape Town, including Barnstable, Falmouth and Truro, are also reporting a recent increase in cases, prompting a wave of actions from state health officials, including the deployment of hundreds of test kits. Rapid COVIDs for Healthcare Providers Stricter COVID Staff Testing Rules for Cape Town Nursing Homes. State health officials are also closely monitoring the new cases, many of whom are tourists who live in other parts of Massachusetts and beyond.
The rapid increase in the Delta variant, a mutated strain of the coronavirus that spreads more easily than other versions and now accounts for the vast majority of COVID cases in the United States, is fueling anxieties. Cape Town health officials say they don’t yet know what percentage of new infections are attributed to the Delta strain, but suspect it plays a significant role.
The Delta The variant “is virulent and should not be taken lightly,” said Vaira Harik, deputy director of the Barnstable County Social Services Department.
Local officials have no doubts that the influx of summer visitors is one of the driving forces behind the COVID outbreak, with Cape Town’s population easily doubling during the summer season and Provincetown dropping from 3,000 to 60,000.
“We have an influx of tourists, as well as people from the 4th of July weekend, which has brought people together and these factors are contributing to cases in several towns in Barnstable County,” she said. declared.
Reverberations from the Provincetown epidemic are already reaching Boston. The city’s Public Health Commission reported to At least 35 cases of COVID-19 among Boston residents have been traced to Provincetown and “the overwhelming majority of them have been fully vaccinated,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.
The commission urged Boston residents who have traveled to Provincetown since July 1 and until further notice to get tested at least five days after returning home, even if they have been vaccinated and have no symptoms. The commission also called on visitors to Provincetown to self-isolate until they receive a negative COVID test.
So-called “breakthrough” infections in vaccinated people are rare. The state health department is reporting 4,814 such cases as of July 17, representing just 0.1% of all people vaccinated in Massachusetts. Cases of hospitalization or death among these cases are even rarer.
Again, While most cases are mild, at least one fully vaccinated 35-year-old Boston resident infected in Provincetown during the July 4 vacation said he had been hit hard by the disease.
“For two days I was the sickest of my life,” said Travis Dagenais, describing days of muscle pain, fever and chills so intense he couldn’t sleep. And after two weeks, he’s still tired.
Dagenais said he had been cautious about socializing until the July 4 break, even though he has been fully vaccinated since April.
“I started to feel safer and more comfortable, and so when friends and I wanted to go to a crowded nightclub in Provincetown, with hundreds of other people, it didn’t hurt me. not sounded risky, frankly, “he said.
Dagenais was encouraged that Provincetown was “open for business,” and the busiest he had seen in more than a decade of regular travel. “I interpreted the city of Provincetown allowing these nightclubs and spaces to function as a safety signal,” he said.
Now, he said, he would like to see more mask warrants return, as well as checks to see if people are vaccinated in public places.
Provincetown officials issued a notice on Monday urging people to hide indoors regardless of COVID vaccination status “where social distancing cannot be achieved.” The advisory also urges companies to require customers to show proof of vaccination when social distancing is not possible.
Harik, of the Barnstable County Department of Social Services, said there had been no discussion of extending the notice beyond Provincetown or issuing warrants.
However, other officials fear the Provincetown wave will soon come to their towns.
“I’m afraid this is spreading from Provincetown,” said Bruce Murphy, director of health at Yarmouth, about 40 miles away in mid-Cape. “It’s a mobile population and workforce in Cape Town. Obviously, he goes to other cities.
At Maplewood in Mayflower Place in West Yarmouth, a retirement home, authorities have registered 33 people who have tested positive for COVID since July 10; 24 residents are residents and nine members of staff.
The majority of residents who tested positive have been vaccinated and are either asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, the state health department said. All staff who test positive are in stable condition.
Murphy said Yarmouth also recorded five new infections outside the nursing home over the past week, including some who were vaccinated. He said the city is now working with the state to determine if the cases are linked to nursing home infections.
The state health department said the majority of Massachusetts nursing homes continued to report no new cases among residents or staff. Statewide, 88% of nursing home residents are fully immunized, as are 73% of staff.
The department deployed a state initiative team led by Partners in Health to help communities in Cape Town contact those who have been infected and analyze emerging clusters. It also provides health information in multiple languages to educate visitors and staff about the risk of COVID-19. And he offered to send a large amount of masks and hand sanitizer from his emergency preparedness warehouse for local authorities to distribute.
State Senator Julian Cyr, spokesperson for the Cape Cod COVID-19 task force, said his panel is now working with the state, trying to reach seasonal workers who may not be vaccinated, including including immigrants who come to Cape Town for the summer on special work visas.
He said authorities are also monitoring hospitalizations, as they tend to be a good barometer of disease severity during a COVID outbreak. Currently, he said, five people with COVID are hospitalized in Cape Town.
“Hospitalizations can increase slightly, as long as they stay below a threshold and don’t overwhelm the system,” he said.
“I tend to think we see the future,” Cyr said. “I think we are entering a new endemic phase of COVID-19 in that we are learning to live with this virus. “
Kay Lazar can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar. Camille Caldera can be reached at [email protected].
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