Barnstable County issues COVID-19 advisory due to skyrocketing cases. Wear masks, get vaccinated

Barnstable County officials issued an advisory Thursday afternoon asking Cape Codders to wear masks indoors and get vaccinated and boosted as COVID-19 cases skyrocket.

This week, test clinics organized by the Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment have yielded positivity rates of 20%, which is indicative of broad and aggressive spread of the omicron variant on Cape Cod," county officials said in a press release.

"In addition, testing taking place at Cape Cod Healthcare is yielding percent positivity rates above 25%" based on a seven-day rolling average.

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Wear masks indoors

Barnstable County health officials said they are urging all residents to wear masks indoors when they are not in their own homes, regardless of vaccination status.

They also asked residents to make sure they and their eligible children are vaccinated against COVID-19 and get booster shots on schedule.

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Resume social distancing

Cape residents also are being urged to resume physical distance of at least 6 feet and to minimize attendance at social events and other gatherings.

“While we are trying to keep schools open and minimize the risk to healthcare staff, first responders, and workers, we are asking the public to resume masking and physical distancing in indoor public settings like grocery stores, retail settings, and places of worship, and to please avoid attending social gatherings,” said Sean O’Brien, Barnstable County’s health director.

“We need to put the skills we learned during past COVID surges back to work, and we are in the biggest surge we’ve ever seen right now.”

Cape Cod COVID cases

The Cape saw a record number of new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, with 411 reported by the state Department of Public Health based on PCR tests.

That exceeded the previous record of 280 new cases the week before, Vaira Harik, Barnstable County assistant administrator, said during a Wednesday meeting of the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners.

“We are easily, clearly, in the midst of a significant spike in new cases," most likely driven by the omicron variant that has become the prevalent variant across Massachusetts, Harik said.

“We are clearly, clearly in an omicron surge.”

Harik said "serious infections are largely the domain of the unvaccinated person," but she urged people to take precautions to prevent hospital beds from filling up.

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She said that as of Monday afternoon the three-day coronavirus patients average at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis and Falmouth Hospital was 53, with six of those individuals being treated in the intensive care units.

“We’re really in a very critical time here," O'Brien said at Wednesday's commissioners meeting.

In their Thursday health advisory, county officials asked people who have symptoms of COVID-19 or have been in contact with someone with coronavirus for more than 15 minutes to schedule a COVID-19 test.

For information on testing and vaccination and booster shots go to: barnstablecountyhealth.org or contact a local pharmacy.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod skyrocketing COVID, calls for masks, vaccines, distancing