Dr. Robert Duncanson
CHATHAM – Chatham officials are getting ready for potential holiday COVID surges as the town is met with higher and higher new case numbers, a trend seen region-wide.
During the most recent meeting of the Chatham Select Board, Dr. Robert Duncanson told board members that the town has seen a total of 474 confirmed COVID cases among residents.
He also highlighted that Chatham and other towns across the Cape are above the 5 percent mark, indicative of substantial community spread of the virus.
“November of this year, 2021, saw a total of 44 conformed cases. That’s compared to only 13 cases in November of 2020. We had roughly three times as many cases this year as we did last year,” said Duncanson.
In December, there have been a total of 24 confirmed cases so far, compared to 57 cases in all of December last year.
“Given the fact that we’re roughly through the month or pretty close to that, we are currently just about on track to have as many confirmed cases this year as we did last year.”
Duncanson said he was hopeful for a lighter number of cases this season, given the dip in cases over the summer, but with recent upticks he is now braced for a winter surge.
He said that he believes people have grown complacent amid vaccines and boosters, and have become lax in practicing social distancing and wearing masks.
Duncanson urged residents to practice COVID safety precautions alongside getting their booster shots, as the pandemic has not yet ended.
“We are clearly in the early stages of a fourth surge. We really need to be doing everything we possibly can to minimize this and get this back under control,” Duncanson said.
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