The Massachusetts tourist destination of Provincetown instituted a new mask advisory on Monday, urging everyone to wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status, following positive COVID-19 tests for 132 people who had been to the town in recent days.
Massachusetts’ cases have been going up since late June, attributed, in part, to the rising prevalence of the highly contagious delta variant. The seven-day positivity rate ticked above 1% on July 16 for the first time since it fell below that line in late May, often as low as 0.3 or 0.4%.
Provincetown town manager Alex Morse joined Jim Braude to discuss the new advisory on Greater Boston.
“The first two weeks of July in Provincetown are among the busiest weeks we have in the summer,” Morse said, contrasting the town’s year-round population of 3,000 people to the heights of 60,000 that it can reach on a day when it’s bustling with tourists. “We have more people in Provincetown today than we’ve had at any point since the beginning of this pandemic, and so, since the Fourth of July festivities and events and people here in town, we’ve seen an uptick in cases here.”
Provincetown data shows very high rates of vaccination among its residents. The vast majority of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths nationwide are among unvaccinated people. Most of the people tied to the town’s cluster are experiencing mild symptoms, which Morse tied to the group’s overwhelmingly high vaccination rate.
As cases and positivity rates are rising in the Commonwealth, the speed with which residents are getting vaccinated is falling. Just under 60,000 vaccine doses were administered in the week leading up to July 15, according to state data — about 40% of what the state administered four weeks prior. In other words, the rate at which Massachusetts residents are electing to be vaccinated has dropped quickly from highs that reached nearly 580,000 weekly doses.
The decrease is, in part, due to the Commonwealth’s relatively high vaccination rate — 68% of all residents have gotten at least their first shot, compared to 56% nationwide.
But that leaves 32% of the population that has yet to receive any of the available COVID-19 vaccines. Of those 2.2 million unvaccinated Bay Staters, 4 in 10 are under the age of 12 and therefore ineligible to receive any of the COVID-19 vaccines until they receive the FDA authorization. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended Monday that everyone over the age of 2 wear masks in schools in the fall, including vaccinated students and adults.
“I do think some people that are vaccinated think they’re invincible, when, in fact, we’re not,” Morse said.
The new measures in Provincetown, Morse said, include advising people to wear masks inside, asking larger venues to require proof of vaccination before entry and asking that children aged 2 to 12 wear masks.
“Even if you’re vaccinated, you’re at risk,” he said. “Your symptoms may be mild, but you’re still able to spread it to somebody else. And so if you’re not feeling well, stay home, get tested.”
“Come to Provincetown, have a good time, but be safe, be careful, be conscious of your surroundings,” Morse went on. “We want to make sure that everyone can have a good experience and leave healthy and happy.”
WATCH: Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse on the newly reinstated mask advisory
