Barnstable County Commissioners Mark Forest, Ronald Bergstrom and Sheila Lyons.
HYANNIS – Barnstable County officials have scaled back the county employee vaccination policy in light of continued declining COVID case counts across the region.
The weekly testing mandate will be lifted for those who are not vaccinated and do not have a medical or religious exemption, so long as public health metrics remain positive, according to County Administrator Beth Albert.
She added that the vaccination policy, which has been in place since November 2021, needs to remain flexible with the ebb and flow of the pandemic surges.
“It’s a loosening, but we’re keeping the vaccination policy in place. We’re just recommending that we loosen that one particular piece of it,” said Albert.
Officials said that the change will impact ten county employees.
County Board of Commissioners Chair Sheila Lyons said that they vaccine policy is vital for the overall health of the community, especially as health experts have said that COVID-19 can leave lasting effects on the body.
“Now that two years have gone by, they have seen that even mild cases of COVID has done damage, lingering damage to a person. Their lungs, their heart, various other aspects,” said Lyons.
“This wasn’t done just because we were following a crowd, it really was thinking of the safety of our employees and the public.”
If case numbers rise again or other public health metrics indicate that the community is at risk from COVID-19, then the weekly testing protocol could return for unvaccinated county employees, said Albert.
According to the latest metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Barnstable County remains in the lowest risk category.
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