Report: Provincetown COVID Cluster Now Contained

HYANNIS – Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment officials recently gave an update on the state of COVID-19 on Cape Cod as the region begins to move past the recent Provincetown outbreak.

Deputy Director for the Department of Human Services Vaira Harik told Barnstable County Commissioners during their most recent meeting that the cluster reported in the Outer Cape town has since been brought under control.

“Those cases now have winded their way through the system. Persons who were infected have since recovered,” said Harik.

Harik said that seven hospitalizations and no deaths were linked to the cluster in total. Of the hospitalizations, six were vaccinated individuals.

She said that the incident gained national attention as one of the first clusters involving many vaccinated individuals contracting COVID-19.

“Both our Department of Public Health statewide and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relied on the data generated, not least, by our surveillance people,” said Harik. 

“The DPH was able to gather exceptional data which allowed policy decision-making at the national level and helped inform the national mask mandates and their application.”

The disproportionately large number of cases traced back to Provincetown can be attributed to the density of interactions and events in the town, said Harik.

Barnstable County Public Health Nurse Deirdre Arvidson said that partying and other high-interaction activities during the peak visitor weeks likely lead to the cluster. 

Barnstable County is reporting between 25 and 30 new COVID cases a day, said Harik, well above the one to four additional cases a day that were being seen prior to July. 

Upticks in cases have been measured on the Islands as well.

Harik said that she attributes the dramatic increase to the highly-contagious nature of the Delta variant—now the most common strain of the virus across the nation. 

While hospitalizations are on the rise, as well, Harik said that there are no ICU beds being utilized at this time.

About Grady Culhane

Grady Culhane is a Cape Cod native from Eastham. He studied media communications at Cape Cod Community College and joined the CapeCod.com News Center in 2019.



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