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Incidence Rate in the Town of Barnstable

The average daily COVID-19 incidence rate of Town of Barnstable residents, calculated from case reports received during the past fourteen days, decreased to an average of 8.8 new cases per day (see right side of graph above). 

Local, County, State, and Nationwide Cumulative Case and Cumulative Death Counts

A cumulative total of 10,968 Town of Barnstable residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19 to date.  In Barnstable County, there have been a total of 42,557 confirmed cases cumulatively resulting in 633 deaths of Barnstable County residents.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported there have been a total of 1,830,211 positive cases in the State of Massachusetts cumulatively to date in the State, resulting in 20,025 deaths.  In the United States overall, according to the John Hopkins University, there have been 93,403,244 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively resulting in 1,039,745 deaths nationwide as of August 19th.

Hospitalizations in Barnstable County

Cape Cod Healthcare reported yesterday, on August 18th, there were a total of seventeen (17) patients who were being treated for COVID-19 at Cape Cod and Falmouth hospitals.  One (1) of the seventeen patients was in intensive care.

Hospitalizations in Massachusetts 

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, on August 16th there were a total of 176 patients primarily hospitalized for COVID-19 in Massachusetts.  In total, there were 582 patents hospitalized with COVID -19.  Of those 582 patients, 342 patients (59%) were reported to be fully vaccinated when they contracted COVID-19.  

Deaths of Massachusetts Residents During the Past Week

There were forty-seven (47) new, confirmed deaths of Massachusetts residents during the past seven days.  The average age of death was 77 years old.  

Vaccination and Booster Status/ Barnstable County Residents

Seventy-eight (78) percent of the Barnstable County residents are fully vaccinated.  Sixty-three (63%) of Barnstable County residents received booster doses after being fully vaccinated, compared to 59% of the Massachusetts population and  compared to 48% of the national population. 

Medium COVID-19 Community Level Designation/ Recommendations 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to classify this area, Barnstable County, as being at a medium COVID-19 community level.   Community levels can be low, medium, or high and are determined by looking at hospital admissions and the total number of COVID-19 cases in an area.  

The following prevention steps are recommended:

Recently Updated Guidance/ Quarantining and Isolating

With may tools available for reducing the severity of COVID-19,  there is significantly less risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance for people who know they have been exposed to COVID-19. 

  • If you were exposed to COVID-19, regardless of your vaccination status: CDC recommends that instead of quarantining, you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested 5 full days after your last exposure (day 6).
  • If you have COVID-19: regardless of vaccination status, you should isolate from others for 5 days. If after 5 days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you should test on Day 6. If the test is negative, you may end isolation but should continue masking around others and in public. If the test is positive, you should continue to isolate. 
  • The joint early childhood & K-12 guidance for students and staff has also been updated to reflect the updated CDC guidance on exposure and isolation in these settings.

This updated guidance is additional acknowledgement that while COVID-19 is still with us, for a majority of people, COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts their daily lives.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas McKean, RS, CHO, 

Director of Public Health