COVID-19 illustration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
FALMOUTH – The Omicron surge of COVID-19 is over, though health officials said that so long as further variants loom, the threat is not over.
Falmouth Health Agent Scott McGann said the the peak of new daily cases is past, and locally the 14-day positivity rate is 6.14 percent, down from 8.8% the week before and quickly dropping towards the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 5 percent threshold indicating an outbreak is under control.
“Where we are right now, there’s no variants of concern showing up at this point, but when they do you can see how fast they take over,” said McGann, referring to the speed at which Omicron replaced Delta as the dominant strain of COVID.
“That can obviously happen again.”
McGann also highlighted the high vaccination rate region-wide as part of the Cape’s strong defense—in Falmouth specifically 84 percent of all residents are fully vaccinated.
The positive trends seen lately in COVID data has led a number of municipalities and school districts to drop their indoor mask mandates, including Falmouth Public Schools which has voted not to instate its own mandate after the state’s is rescinded on February 28.
Masks are still required in town buildings at this time, however, according to McGann, and private businesses may also instate their own face covering requirements.
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