Barnstable County Health Officials Cautious as Residents Push to Re-Open Economy

Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment Director, Sean O’Brien

HYANNIS – As some Cape Cod residents want the economy to reopen, Barnstable County health officials are cautious as they say that the state is in the midst of the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“First of all, people want to work and make sure businesses are operational and I get that,” said Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment Director, Sean O’Brien.     

“This is just our critical week and I think the numbers that we start to see this week are really going to tell us how we look on the Cape peak wise.”

This comes after some residents took to the Bourne Rotary over the weekend to protest against Governor Charlie Baker’s stay at home advisory and non-essential work ban.

With some states planning to re-open this week, in an attempt to try and return to normal, many across the Commonwealth are worried about those residents traveling to Massachusetts.

“I’m just hoping those states and their state health departments have looked at the numbers and they’re looking at what the conditions are right now as they start to look at these things,” said O’Brien.   

“If you look here in Massachusetts, I think a 14 day quarantine was requested of anyone coming up from outside areas and I don’t think anything has changed. If you’ve traveled you need to self-quarantine for 14 days, that is my understanding. I think that’s what people need to think about right now if they do decide to travel.”

He added that any official re-opening of Cape Cod will have to come from the state level.

“Any decisions made as to how things work out here on Cape Cod, my guess are going to come from a state wide level,” O’Brien said.  

“A lot of that is going to come down from our governor and the governor’s office to determine when the state looks at re-opening and everything else.”

O’Brien said that the Boston area has become a hot spot for the virus and that officials will be monitoring that situation closely to see how it affects Cape Cod.  

Monday saw 27 cars come through the drive-thru testing facility at Cape Cod Community College.

Just under 2,000 cars have come through the site since its opening.

The number of cars that have come through the facility does not exactly represent the number of people who have been tested.

Health officials mentioned that they are expecting the number of tests to increase as the peak of the virus approaches.

As rapid testing is becoming more widespread across the country, Barnstable County health officials are hopeful that it could be making its way to Cape Cod.

The current turnaround time for testing on Cape Cod is one to two days.

County health officials applauded Cape Cod Healthcare and said they are a great community healthcare system.

O’Brien said Cape Cod Healthcare was able to look ahead and began testing on Cape Cod earlier than other counties in the state.

He added that they have done a great job during the pandemic.