Community Level Designation
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to classify 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.
Reported Case Counts and Deaths
Town of Barnstable: 12,365 total cases (positive residents) cumulatively to date, 149 new cases during the last two weeks (lower compared to last week), 13.6% positivity (lower compared to last week).
Barnstable County: 48,370 cases, 583 cases in the last two weeks; 744 deaths cumulatively, 10 deaths in the last 2 weeks
Massachusetts: 1,994,476 cases of State of Massachusetts residents cumulatively to date, 16,060 cases in the last two weeks; 21,658 confirmed deaths, 125 new confirmed deaths in the past 7 days, The average age of death during the past two weeks was 78 years old.
United States: According to John Hopkins University, there have been a total of 101,958,837 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively in the United States resulting in 1,103,681 deaths nationwide as of January 20, 2023.
Local Hospitalizations :
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Barnstable County continued to decrease during the past week. According to Cape Cod Healthcare, there were a total of twenty-four (24) patients being treated for COVID-19 at Cape Cod and Falmouth hospitals on January 18, 2023. None of the patients were in intensive care.
Status Nationally and Worldwide
Hospitalizations and deaths in the United States decreased by 17 % and 6% respectively compared to the previous week, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Also, the number of positive COVID-19 cases decreased by 24% compared to the previous week.
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to classify this ongoing pandemic as a public health emergency. Globally, the risk is very high due to ongoing impacts on human health, insufficient global capacity for control, and continued viral spread and mutation. The availability of vaccines worldwide and in the United States has improved. However the uptake of vaccinations, especially booster doses, has slowed.
Prevention Steps
The following prevention steps are recommended by the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- If you are at high risk of getting very sick, wear a high-quality mask or respirator.
- If you have household or social contact with someone at high risk for getting very sick, consider self-testing to detect infection before contact, and consider wearing a high-quality mask when indoors with them
- Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
- Avoid contact with people who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
- Follow recommendations for isolation if you have suspected or confirmed COVID-19 (stay at home for five days, do not travel, wear a mask, etc).
- Follow the recommendations for what to do if you are exposed to someone with COVID-19 (i.e. wear a mask, get tested if you develop symptoms).
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas McKean, RS, CHO,
Director of Public Health