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: 12,443 total cases (positive residents) cumulatively to date, 132 new cases during the last two weeks (lower compared to last week), 13.35% positivity (lower compared to last week).
Barnstable County: 48,628 cases, 496 cases in the last two weeks; 752 deaths cumulatively, 13 deaths in the last 2 weeks
Massachusetts: 2,000,273 cases of State of Massachusetts residents cumulatively to date, 12,598 cases in the last two weeks; 21,826 deaths, 305 deaths in the past two weeks. The average age of death during the past week was 79 years old.
United States: According to John Hopkins University, there have been a total of 102,260,961 positive COVID-19 cases cumulatively in the United States resulting in 1,107,559 deaths nationwide as of January 27, 2023.
Status Nationally and Worldwide
Hospitalizations and deaths in the United States decreased by 19 % and 5% 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 11% compared to the previous week.
The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to classify this ongoing pandemic as a public health emergency of international concern, though the world is in a much better place than it was a year ago. WHO estimated that at least 90% of the world’s population has some level of immunity to COVID-19 due to vaccination or infection. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented that he is hopeful that the world will transition out of the emergency phase of the pandemic this year, particularly if access to the counter-measures cam be improved globally.
Local Hospitalizations :
The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Barnstable County has decreased during the past week. According to Cape Cod Healthcare, there were a total of twenty-one (21) patients being treated for COVID-19 at Cape Cod and Falmouth hospitals on January 30, 2023. One (1) of the patients was in intensive care.
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