An Independent-minded calendar of arts and events for Outer Cape Cod

Advertise in the Indie.

Reach more readers from Eastham to Provincetown.

Unchained news for Outer Cape Cod

The Provincetown Independent

Let us bring you the paper.

Your subscription supports real community journalism.

Covid vaccine

    PANDEMIC

    Outer Cape’s Covid Infection Rates Remain Low

    Those who got the Pfizer vaccine and are over 65, or at risk, can now get boosters

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — Three months after a steep rise in Covid-19 cases tied to Provincetown’s 4th of July weekend crowds, the number of cases on the Outer Cape is low compared to other regions of the state.

    Thirty-five new cases of the virus have been reported in all of Barnstable County in the last 30 days, according to the state’s database.

    There are nine active cases in Eastham, Director of Health and Environment Jane Crowley said on Monday, Oct. 4.

    There are six active cases in Wellfleet and four probable cases, according to a statement from town Health Agent Hillary Greenberg-Lemos on the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 5. “Confirmed active cases” are those reported following positive results from PCR tests, whereas “probable cases” are those that follow positive results from rapid antigen tests and are still awaiting results from PCR tests.

    Four active cases were reported in Truro’s Oct. 2 report, the most recent update from that town.

    There were just two active cases in Provincetown, according to the health department’s website, updated on Monday afternoon, Oct. 4.

    As of Monday, Barnstable County had an overall 2.8-percent positivity rate, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “positivity rate” is the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that yield positive results.

    According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health website, the positivity rate is a critical measure not only because it indicates how widespread infection is in the area, but also whether levels of testing are keeping up with levels of disease transmission. A high positivity rate can mean that the number of total tests is too low.

    Booster shots to supplement the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine are now available at local pharmacies to people 65 and over and to people 18 to 64 with underlying medical conditions. Employees who work in settings with increased risk of Covid-19 transmission are also eligible. This includes front-line health-care workers employed at hospitals, nursing homes, and health clinics.

    To find out where to get a shot, go to vaxfinder.mass.gov and fill in your zip code. A list of pharmacies will pop up. Only the Pfizer booster vaccine is available at present, while the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson booster vaccines are still awaiting FDA approval, according to the database.

    Patients of Outer Cape Health Services are asked to stop in or call to book an appointment and to present their vaccination cards when they arrive.

    “People in the recommended groups who got the Moderna or J&J/Janssen vaccine will likely need a booster shot,” said Outer Cape Health Chief Medical Officer Andrew Jorgensen. “More data on the effectiveness and safety of Moderna and J&J/Janssen booster shots are expected soon.

    “Immunocompromised individuals may receive a third dose of the Moderna Covid‑19 vaccine,” Jorgensen added. “It is important to note that this is not a booster. It is a third vaccination shot. This Moderna third shot for immunocompromised individuals can be given at least one month after the second Moderna dose,” he explained, noting that, at Outer Cape Health Services, “We advise patients to first consult with their clinicians to determine eligibility.”

    Booster recipients need to be six months out from their second Pfizer shot, OCHS Senior Development and Communications Officer Gerry Desautels said.

    “There’s definitely a lot of interest, just as there was initially for the vaccination,” he said.

    BREAKTHROUGH

    Covid Cluster Puts Provincetown on the Bleeding Edge

    By some measures, the outbreak peaked here on July 19

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The entire nation got a new universal indoor masking advisory last week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put Provincetown squarely in the middle of their rationale.

    The CDC reversed its May 13 advice that vaccinated people did not need to wear masks, writing in bold red text that “given higher transmissibility and current vaccine coverage, universal masking is essential.”

    There is no difference in the observed viral load of vaccinated and unvaccinated people infected with the Delta variant of COVID, according to a CDC presentation leaked to the media last week. While viral load in the nose is not a direct measure of transmissibility, it’s close enough that the CDC decided the risk of transmission through the vaccinated population and back to the unvaccinated was too great.

    The data underlying that conclusion were released two days later, in the form of a CDC report focused entirely on the Provincetown Covid cluster.

    Over the weekend, reporters from around the world descended on Provincetown to find out what had happened here. It felt as if the pandemic were starting anew — but with Provincetown at the center of the story.

    The answers to the question “Why here?” are elusive, but anomalies and unexplained delays in state reporting of data are clearly involved. If the Delta variant can be this explosively contagious, why isn’t the same thing happening in other busy vacation towns and major cities? Here are some possible answers.

    Happening Everywhere?

    One possibility is that breakthrough infections among the vaccinated are more widespread than has been reported.

    Until last week, the CDC said vaccinated people without symptoms did not need a Covid test, even if they were in direct contact with an infected person. According to the New York Times, nationwide testing volume has declined steadily since April. The CDC stopped gathering data on breakthrough Covid cases in vaccinated people on May 1.

    “As of May 1, 2021, the CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases,” says the CDC website. “The number of Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough infections reported to CDC likely are an undercount.”

    Late Reporting Elsewhere?

    Case reporting frequently lags by one to two weeks. This means an outbreak can be well underway before it becomes publicly known.

    There are indications an outbreak is happening now on Nantucket. In the two weeks between July 19 and Aug. 2, 122 cases have been found on the island — up from zero in late June.   Recent wastewater tests show very high concentrations of virus. The seven-day-average positivity rate for the island was at 15 percent last week — higher than Provincetown’s mid-July average of 13.5 percent.

    State reporting, however, shows almost none of that. As of Aug. 3, the state’s “Interactive Data Dashboard” shows just 22 cases for Nantucket and a 3.7 percent positivity rate. That’s because the dashboard excludes the most recent 10 days of case discovery.

    Late Reporting Here?

    Similarly, Provincetown’s Covid outbreak was not visible in the public data until about 10 days after it started.

    Numbers provided to the Independent by Outer Cape Health Services (OCHS) show that the rapid testing program there discovered one Covid case on July 6, one on July 7, and two on July 8. On July 9 and 10, however, there were seven cases each day. According to the CDC report on the Provincetown cluster, the state Dept. of Public Health was alerted on July 10.

    OCHS recorded one new positive case via rapid testing on July 11 (a Sunday), 9 cases on the 12th, 14 cases on the 13th, and 9 more on the 14th.

    The state deployed a van with PCR tests to Provincetown on July 14. It performed 251 tests that day, finding 28 more positive cases.

    On the evening of July 15, however, the state published its weekly report, showing only 5 confirmed cases in Provincetown. By the previous evening, OCHS had already found 51 cases, including 28 Provincetown residents, with rapid tests. But due to the state’s delayed reporting window, and the fact that the state reports only “confirmed” PCR test results, and not “probable” rapid test results, most of what OCHS had found was not in the state’s data.

    The CDC report on the Provincetown cluster notes that the state DPH issued an “Epidemic Information Exchange” on July 15 to the health departments of the other states. In other words, the DPH was alerting other health departments and the CDC of an outbreak on the same day that it published a report showing only 5 cases here.

    The Provincetown cluster wasn’t actually revealed to the public until the morning of July 19, at a joint meeting of the select board and board of health. At that meeting, county health officials Sean O’Brien and Vaira Harik described the state data summary. Their presentation said that, as of Friday evening, July 16, there were 38 Provincetown residents, 51 other Massachusetts residents, and 43 out-of-state residents associated with the 132-person cluster.

    The CDC report shows the scope of the outbreak in Provincetown and reveals that state officials did not make a public presentation until nine days after they were first notified of a surge in positive tests here. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

    According to the CDC report, however, as of Friday the 16th, specimens had been collected from 192 Massachusetts residents eventually associated with the cluster, more than twice the number reported to the public.

    A team of contact tracers, including four Barnstable County public health nurses, did a huge amount of work to assemble the cluster data. OCHS communications director Gerry Desautels noted that, just because a test was conducted in Provincetown, it cannot automatically be assumed that that person is a part of the Provincetown cluster.

    Data Are a Lagging Indicator

    All of this simply shows that the public data lags incoming positive test results — sometimes significantly. The DPH was alerted to rising cases on July 10, but did not make a public presentation until July 19. Meanwhile, the first Provincetown resident to post his diagnosis to Facebook did so on July 9.

    In fact, by some measures the outbreak here actually crested on July 19. Positivity at the mobile testing site at Veterans Memorial Community Center peaked at 15 percent on July 15. The largest number of samples that were eventually connected to the cluster were taken on July 19.   Positivity held steady around 10 percent through the week of the 19th, before declining to about 6 percent the week after.

    As a technical matter, the cluster is now nearly closed. According to Town Manager Alex Morse, “per the guidance of the DPH, July 31 was the last day that someone can have symptom onset or a positive test [and be added] to the overall cluster number.”

    This is, of course, a wonderful development. The positivity rate on Aug. 1 was down to 4 percent. More than 1,000 people in the cluster have gotten Covid — with almost every sequenced sample being the Delta variant — and, so far, no one has died. Less than one percent needed to be hospitalized. From a health point of view, Provincetown may have gotten lucky.

    There was no luck, though, in being the world’s case study. Provincetown spent at least three weeks on what is sometimes called the “bleeding edge,” learning painful and unexpected lessons that the rest of the world is now absorbing.

    IMMUNITY

    Local Businesses, Health Care Providers Resist Requiring Vaccine

    Experts agree on the vaccines’ effectiveness, but not on mandates

    By

    Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information since its publication in the Aug. 5 print edition.

    PROVINCETOWN — Since May, Patrick Patrick, head of the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce and owner of Marine Specialties on Commercial Street, has required his 18 staff members to show proof of vaccination.

    “I just assumed everyone was requiring it,” he said. “I am worried about unvaccinated people getting sick, and I have zero tolerance for anyone who is putting anyone at risk.”

    It is legal to make proof of vaccination a condition of employment, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws.

    Yet Marine Specialties is one of just three businesses the Independent could identify in Provincetown who are requiring staff vaccinations. The others are the Pilgrim House and the Boatslip Resort, according to knowledgeable sources.

    The board of health has just approved a certification program to encourage more vaccination of staff and customers. The board will issue a plaque or sticker to be displayed in businesses to indicate if staff are fully vaccinated, or if vaccination cards are required for all who enter, or both.

    Local health-care providers are not rushing into vaccine requirements. But with just 49 percent of the U.S. general population fully vaccinated and the Delta variant raging, pressure is mounting for health-care providers especially to require vaccinations in their workplaces.

    The American Medical Association came out in support of a vaccine mandate for those working in health care on July 26. “We call for all health care and long-term care employers to require their employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” the statement on its website declares. Fifty-seven other medical groups nationwide signed on.

    The AMA statement quotes Dr. Susan R. Bailey, its immediate past president, saying, “Increased vaccinations among health care personnel will not only reduce the spread of Covid-19 but also reduce the harmful toll this virus is taking within the health care workforce and those we are striving to serve.”

    On the Outer Cape, where vaccination rates are higher — the Mass. Dept of Public Health estimates 81 to over 95 percent of residents here are vaccinated — it does not appear that Outer Cape Health Services is requiring vaccinations. That is what OCHS spokesperson Gerry Desautels told the Independent on Jan. 5, seven months ago.

    Desautels did not respond to repeated phone calls and emails requesting an update on OCHS’s policy or plans. OCHS staff have told the Independent there is no vaccine requirement, but they must get tested weekly.

    Cape Cod Healthcare is not requiring staff vaccinations either, according to president and CEO Mike Lauf, who said that 90 percent of his 5,000 employees are vaccinated. Although the company, which owns both of the Cape’s hospitals and is the largest medical provider by far here, does not now require staff be vaccinated, “We continue to monitor CDC and state guidance on this matter,” Lauf wrote in a prepared statement.

    Marlishia Aho, communications director of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents Cape Cod Healthcare employees, said everyone agrees vaccinations are the best way to curb this crisis. The union does not want a mandate, however, Aho said. Its reason is that a requirement would “disregard deep-seated fears of historic medical racism” among staff and add more stress to their lives, according to Aho.

    What the union does want, Aho said, is “increased education and access.”

    Long-term care staff no longer have that option, however. On Aug. 4, Gov. Charlie Baker required all long-term care facilities to impose staff vaccine mandates. AdviniaCare, which owns the long-term care facilities at Seashore Point in Provincetown and Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brewster, had only been “strongly encouraging” vaccination, while making unvaccinated employees get tested before each shift, David Ball, a spokesman for AdviniaCare said on Aug. 3.

    The Cape Cod Times reported on July 22 that 72.6 percent of staff members at Massachusetts nursing homes are vaccinated. That is the sixth highest rate in the nation.

    Maybe “strong encouragement” is enough, said state Sen. Julian Cyr of Truro. In communities where vaccination rates are high, there is already vaccine-induced herd immunity, he said, so a vaccination requirement may not have much effect.

    Cyr said he knows of Outer Cape business owners who have one or two staff members who won’t get the vaccine. But they are a small minority.

    The Boatslip Resort, which has been requiring vaccination cards at the door, has the right idea, Cyr said. Some type of universal vaccination card would be convenient, he added.

    Cyr said the real focus right now, in progressive communities like the Outer Cape, should be correcting the misinformation being spread about vaccines.

    “The data and science are overwhelmingly clear,” said Cyr. “These vaccines are working.”

    CONSPIRACIES

    Misinformation on Covid Vaccines Abounds

    The U.S. Surgeon General urges everyone to join the fight, a ‘moral imperative’

    By

    A bitter rift has opened between those vaccinated against Covid-19 and those who have chosen to remain unvaccinated. Evidence of it is easy to find: just check out the comments following vaccine-related stories, where the debate is intense and acrimonious.

    The level of animosity between the two groups is not surprising, as the choice can be a life-and-death decision.

    Those who are vaccinated argue the vaccine protects them as well as those around them, while many vaccination opponents say it’s the shot and not the virus that will kill you.

    Dr. Barry Zuckerman, professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and a Wellfleet summer resident, says the evidence shows that Covid vaccines save lives.

    “Disagreement about implications of health data is common, however the recent data that shows 99 percent of Covid deaths occur among nonvaccinated people is pretty clear cut,” Zuckerman wrote by email.

    Well-organized social media campaigns have spread misinformation about the vaccines, saying that Covid testing is deeply flawed. They claim that Covid is not a threat and the large case numbers are the result of faulty testing. Vaccines are therefore unnecessary, they say, and possibly dangerous, due to adverse reactions. What’s not mentioned are the more than 600,000 deaths from Covid in the U.S. alone.

    The Biden administration sees the misinformation campaign as a significant obstacle to reaching vaccination goals. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on July 15 “to slow the spread of misinformation,” which he called an “urgent threat.”

    Murthy said the intent of those spreading misinformation may simply be to inform, not realizing the claims are false. The result, however, is that “it can cause confusion, sow mistrust, harm people’s health, and undermine public health efforts,” Murthy said. “Limiting the spread of health misinformation is a moral and civic imperative.”

    Many of the anti-vaccine campaigns back their claims with data from a government site called VAERS — the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System — used by the Centers for Disease Control to investigate reports of possible vaccine reactions.

    Anyone can submit a report to VAERS; the data are raw. Vaccine safety experts at the CDC take the raw data and investigate reports of serious reactions, using patients’ medical records to learn more about what happened and to determine whether the reaction was connected to the Covid vaccine or to other medical conditions.

    A nonprofit called the Center for Countering Digital Hate has identified 12 people behind most of the misinformation that’s posted on social media, calling them “The Disinformation Dozen.”

    Topping the list is Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician. The New York Times called him “the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online.” He uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Facebook has labeled or removed some of his posts, the Times reported. Twitter has also removed some posts, but Mercola’s anti-vaccination message is easy to find on YouTube.

    The Center says “Joseph Mercola is a successful anti-vaccine entrepreneur, peddling dietary supplements and false cures as alternatives to vaccines. Mercola’s combined personal social media accounts have around 3.6 million followers.”

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Number 2 on the Disinformation Dozen list. Kennedy, an anti-vaxxer long before Covid, gets his message out via his Children’s Health Defense website.

    Closer to Home

    The Independent received an email from an off-Cape vaccine opponent last week, who sent numerous links to reports on adverse reactions to the vaccine. She identified herself as a registered nurse named Rose Birrell and said she was cofounder of Health Professionals for Covid-19 Policy Correction.

    The only evidence that this group exists is on a website called unite4truth.com.

    Some checking by the Independent showed the woman was using a false name, which she later confirmed, saying she and other medical professionals who oppose the Covid vaccines fear they may be putting their jobs in jeopardy. Her real name is Deborah Lusignan.

    When asked for information about other members of her group, Lusignan became agitated and broke off communications with reporters.

    Most of the claims Lusignan made and links she provided were based on VAERS data, despite warnings by the CDC that the data had yet to be investigated.

    It appears that she had been trying to spread her anti-vaccine message via smaller media outlets. The Vermont Independent published a lengthy account, promoting the Unite4Truth position that Covid testing should be discontinued and the emergency approval of the vaccines should be rescinded. Unite4Truth was described as a “global network of lawyers, doctors, scientists and citizens.”

    United Cape Patriots

    Members of the United Cape Patriots recently held a day-long demonstration on MacMillan Pier outside the state’s VaxBus, which had come to Provincetown to provide walk-in vaccinations following the Covid spike. The Patriots see vaccination as a medical freedom issue, “based on the most God-given right of bodily autonomy.” The group says its role is medical advocacy: giving people the tools to make informed decisions.

    The group’s handouts at the VaxBus called the vaccines “experimental” and said “the vaccine may be more dangerous than the virus based on vax adverse events to date.” The flyer used VAERS data to promote its message.

    Zuckerman called it a misuse of information. “VAERS specifically states their information does not prove a vaccine caused an adverse event,” he said by email. “Further investigation is needed to determine whether it was caused by a vaccine or a health-related problem of the patient.”

    Adam Lange of Brewster, founder of the Patriots, argued that even if the raw data show considerably higher numbers than actual Covid vaccine-related adverse effects, they still show there is an adverse effect.

    Lange would not say whether he has been vaccinated. “I’m healthy, I’m not elderly and not overly concerned about the virus,” he said. The elderly or immune-compromised would have to weigh the risk of COVID against the risk of adverse reactions from the vaccine, he said.

    United Cape Patriot Jennifer Raffloer, who was distributing pamphlets in Provincetown, said they aren’t anti-vaccine. “We are pro-freedom,” she said. A few group members wear masks “but the majority do not.” Some are vaccinated, she said.

    During a phone interview, Raffloer said she and her children will remain unvaccinated, having been “vaccine injured” in the past. “We are not anti-vaxxers. We are ex-vaxxers,” she said.

    Raffloer said the public is putting people like Dr. Anthony Fauci “on a pedestal, following them blindly and trusting what they’re saying.”

    Zuckerman took issue with Raffloer’s comments. “Testing of the vaccines has shown they are safe and effective, leading the FDA to give it conditional approval, which includes approval by an independent outside group of scientists,” he said.

    The agency has continued to closely monitor millions of vaccine recipients, he said. “Based on this, the FDA will likely give final approval soon.”

    PANDEMIC MATH

    On Outer Cape, Data Show Whites Have Lowest Vaccination Rate

    The Jamaican pastor of Truro's Chapel on the Pond leads by example

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The official statistics from the state Dept. of Public Health say that 114 percent of the residents of Provincetown have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

    Obviously, that is impossible.

    The problem is that the state’s calculation is based on 2010 U.S. Census figures, updated by a formula from the Donahue Institute. But that formula almost certainly doesn’t account for elements of Provincetown’s population, such as seasonal foreign workers here on visas. If they were not in the country when the census was taken, they would not have been counted.

    And while public health officials congratulate themselves on the high local vaccination rate, talking to residents across the Outer Cape, most of whom won’t give their names, makes it clear that many are not vaccinated.

    Who are they? A significant number may be immigrant workers from Bulgaria — some of the Provincetown residents who probably aren’t included in the state’s population figures.

    The Independent granted anonymity to five service industry workers from Bulgaria to discuss vaccination rates in that community. All five said they believed that fewer than half of the Bulgarians in Provincetown are currently vaccinated against Covid; and some estimated the number to be as low as 10 percent.

    “The J-1s, the kids who are coming here, I think it’s less than 5 percent,” said one worker. “The ones who are living here now, maybe a quarter.”

    “My first day back in Provincetown, I got the vaccine,” said another Bulgarian. “When I had lunch with four of my friends, they all asked me why I got it. They still don’t have it. I wish I could tell you different.

    “Bulgarians are very set in their ways, and they’re not going to change their minds,” she added. “My mom believes Bill Gates put microchips in the vaccine. I can’t convince her to get it.”

    “The shot they give to rich people is not the same as the shot they give to us,” said a third person interviewed by the Independent.

    “I’ll tell you this much: Bulgarians are very off and on. It’s this or it’s that,” said the fourth person. “The shot is supposed to keep you from getting the virus. If it doesn’t, and people are getting sick anyway, why would you put this in your body?”

    Two of the people interviewed regretted having been vaccinated for that reason. “If I’m going to get sick anyway, why did I take this shot?” one asked.

    Nationally, there is a racial gap in vaccination rates. Black and Hispanic vaccination rates are generally lower than those of white populations, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

    But Mass. Dept. of Public Health statistics appear to show that, on the Outer Cape, white residents have the lowest vaccination rates. The DPH weekly reports on vaccinations per town, last updated on July 22, show that over 95 percent of Black, Asian, and Hispanic residents in Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, and Eastham have received at least one vaccine dose.

    In Provincetown, over 95 percent of white people also have had at least one dose, the DPH reported. As for the white populations of the other towns, the vaccination rate is 89 percent in Wellfleet, 85 percent in Truro, and 81 percent in Eastham.

    An effort to speak with members of the Jamaican community revealed a harrowing story.

    Carlene and Pastor David Brown at their church, the Chapel on the Pond, in North Truro. Nearly everyone they know is vaccinated.(Photo K.C. Myers)

    David Brown, 60, is head pastor at the Chapel on the Pond in North Truro. Brown and his wife, Carlene, began coming here from Jamaica in the 1990s through the H-2B temporary visa program. Like most of their congregation, the Browns work in the service industry. Several days before the pastor was scheduled to get his first Covid-19 vaccination in early April (during Phase II of the vaccine rollout), he began to feel ill. He went to Outer Cape Health Services and demanded a test, even though he had no fever or cough.

    “I just did not feel right,” he said.

    That night, he received a call that he had tested positive. He gave state contact tracers the phone numbers and names of the people in his congregation.

    After two weeks, on the day he was supposed to end his isolation, he was taken by ambulance to the ICU at Cape Cod Hospital.

    Breathing was excruciating, he said. Deep breaths felt like torture, so he concentrated on small, slow sips of air. At night, the symptoms got worse. He could not sleep or lie down. “I would not wish that on anyone,” he said.

    After a day in the ICU, he was sent home and told to return if his symptoms grew worse. He felt, Brown said, that he was going to die.

    But he did recover at home, with Carlene’s care.

    When Brown returned to the pulpit, he told his story to his largely Jamaican congregation. He urged everyone to get vaccinated. About 10 of the people in his church, including one child, also came down with the virus, he said.

    By now, he said, nearly everyone he knows has been vaccinated. With the Delta variant causing new infections, he plans to stay on message.

    Brown said that Pat Nadle, the executive director of Outer Cape Health Services, contacted him last week in an effort to provide Covid education to his community. He said he is arranging for Nadle or another staff member to attend a Sunday service and talk about all the reasons to be vaccinated.

    Nadle could not be reached for comment before this week’s deadline.

    PANDEMIC

    ‘Provincetown Cluster’ Now Has at Least 430 Cases, Officials Say

    Select board calls emergency meeting for 5 p.m. Sunday, July 25

    By

    Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the latest information from local and county public health officials as of Saturday, July 24. We will continue to update as new information is reported to us.

    PROVINCETOWN — The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the so-called Provincetown cluster “officially reported” to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health was 430 as of Friday, July 23, town and county officials reported on Saturday morning.

    “Of these cases,” the press release said, “342 are Massachusetts residents, 153 of which reside in Provincetown. The remainder of individuals who tested positive reside in other states.”

    The press release was issued by Town Manager Alex Morse under the imprimatur of the select board, board of health, and Barnstable County Dept. of Health and Environment. It said that 69 percent of the Mass. residents who tested positive were reported to be fully vaccinated, and that three people in the cluster had been hospitalized, two of them in state. The other 427 cases, apparently, “are known to be mild and without complication.”

    The select board and board of health have called an emergency meeting for 5 p.m. Sunday, July 25 in the Judge Welsh Room at Town Hall to “discuss further actions to contain the spread of Covid-19.” A representative of the Mass. Dept. of Public Health will be there. There will be no public comment period at the meeting.

    At a previous emergency joint meeting of the board of health and select board on Monday, on Facebook, in restaurants, workplaces, and everywhere people talk and gather, Provincetown debated a new question this week: what do lots of Covid cases in vaccinated people mean?

    As of Tuesday, the number in the Provincetown Covid cluster was reported to be 132. That number included 38 residents of Provincetown, one other resident of Cape Cod, 32 residents of Boston, and 43 people living out of state. “Overwhelmingly, the affected individuals have been fully vaccinated for Covid,” according to a statement issued by county and town leaders on Tuesday.

    “It’s important to recognize the symptoms have been mild among the vaccinated,” said Sean O’Brien, Barnstable County’s director of health and environment at the Monday joint meeting. “The vaccine works.”

    “A year and a half ago, we knew very little about this virus, we had no vaccine, we didn’t know how to treat it,” said Town Manager Alex Morse on Monday. “If we saw this number of cases with highly ill individuals, not mild symptoms — if hospitalizations started to spike — then we could throw around words like emergency. But that’s not the conversation we are having this morning.”

    Instead, the select and health boards adopted a public health advisory with several components. It calls for people to get tested, get vaccinated, and stay home from work if they feel sick. It “strongly advises” venues with high social density to require proof of vaccination for admission. It says that “masks are advised indoors where social distancing cannot be achieved.” And it says that “individuals are encouraged to take steps to manage their personal risk appropriately.”

    Both testing and vaccination continue to be available at a mobile testing site at the Veterans Memorial Community Center through Friday, July 30, and possibly beyond. The mobile site offers both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, and “vaccination is free, easy, and no appointment, I.D., or insurance is required,” according to the advisory.

    “We’re testing about 250 to 275 people a day at the mobile testing site,” said Morse. “We’re constantly monitoring the data — every day, what’s the percent positivity?

    “Over the last week, more business owners have decided to require proof of vaccination” from customers, said Morse. “Employers have the right to require masks and vaccination of employees.”

    In addition, the advisory highlights the state’s Temporary Emergency Paid Sick Leave program. Starting on May 28 and continuing until Sept. 30, the state will reimburse employers for up to a week of sick pay for employees who contract Covid, need to recover from the vaccine, need to quarantine, or need to care for a family member with Covid.

    The advisory was not met with universal acclaim. Select board member Bobby Anthony and board of health member Dr. Janet Whelan both argued for an indoor mask mandate. The other four members of each board preferred to wait for more information, however, noting that the new cases are among the vaccinated.

    “I struggled with where we would end up on this,” said board of health chair Steve Katsurinis. “I have been convinced that we’re not in an emergency, in large part because the vaccines keep people from becoming extremely ill. There is a spike, people are getting sick, and it is a shift in my view. I felt like we were done with Covid, and we’re not done.”

    How Many Cases?

    Monday’s joint meeting heard from Vaira Harik of the county Dept. of Human Services and from Sean O’Brien of the Dept. of Health and Environment. The state epidemiologist, Dr. Catherine Brown, also spoke briefly.

    First came the state’s definition of a Covid cluster: “Two or more confirmed or probable cases of Covid that are linked by the same location of exposure.” From then on, however, only confirmed cases were discussed or described. Probable cases were never mentioned again — despite being included in the state’s definition of a cluster, and despite the fact that there are almost certainly dozens of probable cases in Provincetown.

    That is because from Dec. 23 to July 14, almost all testing on the Outer Cape was done in the state-supported rapid testing program at Outer Cape Health Services (OCHS). Because rapid tests, also called antigen tests, were at one point prone to false positives and negatives, the results of rapid tests are still called “probable cases.” Rapid tests are also vastly outnumbered by molecular PCR tests in the state. Partly because of these factors, the state does not report “probable cases” at the town or county level — only a statewide daily total.

    There are clear indications, however, that there are a lot of probable cases here.

    One is the sheer number of people, including Provincetown residents, who posted their positive results to Facebook before the state-supported mobile PCR testing began on July 15.

    Another is that Sen. Cyr told the Independent on July 13 that “several cases per day” were being discovered at OCHS since just before the July 10 weekend. He would not elaborate, but those were almost certainly found through the rapid testing program.

    Another data point comes from Truro. Health Agent Emily Beebe still posts “active cases,” which includes both confirmed and probable cases, on the town website. (This used to be Provincetown’s practice as well, but was discontinued after the vaccine rollout.) On Saturday, July 17, Beebe updated the site to reflect 10 active cases among Truro residents.

    Meanwhile, Harik stated that, as of Friday afternoon, July 16, there was only one “confirmed case” outside of Provincetown, but on Cape Cod, that was linked to the Provincetown cluster.  That one case may or may not be in Truro — but there are definitely nine other cases in Truro, and the odds are they’re mostly “probable cases” discovered through rapid testing and linked to the Provincetown cluster.

    The Independent has filed records requests with the state and county health departments to find out how many probable cases are in the cluster, and how many reside here, but it’s not clear the agencies will have to release that information.

    “Public health surveillance, for any disease, is about getting the information right,” said Cyr in a phone call with the Independent on Tuesday. “The process to confirm these cases is always going to require due diligence and science. What’s most important is to get right whatever information is shared publicly, so people can take the appropriate protective measures.”

    COVID-19

    Walk-In Vaccine Clinics Now Available

    Everyone is eligible with a valid I.D.

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — Good news for the technologically challenged and the bad-at-planning: three vaccination sites on the Outer Cape are now offering the Covid-19 vaccine to walk-in patients.

    All you need is your insurance card if you have one and a valid form of identification. In addition, you should ensure that you have no Covid symptoms on or around the day you plan to get vaccinated.

    Vaccines are getting easier to find on the Outer Cape. (Photo Nancy Bloom)

    Both the Wellfleet and Provincetown clinics of Outer Cape Health Services are taking walk-ins. Provincetown OCHS offers walk-in appointments Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wellfleet OCHS offers walk-in appointments Tuesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

    When you receive your first vaccination, a clinician will also help you schedule your second dose.

    “Being uninsured is not a barrier to being vaccinated,” said Gerry Desautels, senior communications officer at Outer Cape Health this week. The clinic is able to apply for reimbursement through a federal program. “All we have to do is validate that they are, in fact, not insured,” he added.

    Cape Cod Healthcare is also providing walk-in appointments at the Melody Tent in Hyannis. Current clinic hours are Friday, May 14 from 8 to 10 a.m.; Monday, May 17 from 3 to 5 p.m.; Thursday, May 20 from 8 to 11 a.m.; Friday, May 21 from 1 to 3 p.m.; and Wednesday, May 26 from 3 to 5 p.m.

    “Patients will get a notice for a second appointment through the MyChart patient portal, a method that has worked well,” said Patricia Pronovost of Cape Cod Healthcare. “Those who have not signed up for MyChart will be given details on how to enroll. The process is easy to follow.”

    The CVS in Provincetown is accepting walk-in appointments for Covid-19 vaccinations during its regular pharmacy hours, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. The two CVS pharmacies in Orleans, however, are not currently offering walk-in vaccinations.

    THE JAB TAB

    Outer Cape Leads Mass. in Vaccination Rates

    All four Outer Cape towns are in the state’s top 10

    By

    PROVINCETOWN — The state’s April 15 Covid vaccination report has great news for the Outer Cape. The top-line numbers show that the four outermost towns have among the highest Covid vaccination rates in the entire state: 68 percent of Eastham’s population has received at least one dose of Covid vaccine, as has 69 percent of Wellfleet, 71 percent of Truro, and a whopping 93 percent of Provincetown.

    Those numbers place all four towns in the top 10 out of 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts.

    The Lower Cape is also doing well. Seventy-five percent of Orleans has received at least one dose, and Chatham’s 67 percent places it at number 11 on the list.

    The other towns in the top 10 are Tisbury and Chilmark on Martha’s Vineyard, and three small towns in western Mass.: Williamsburg, Great Barrington, and Shelburne.

    Provincetown’s 93 percent is second only to Shelburne, which the report says is 99.7 percent vaccinated: 1,826 first doses given to 1,831 people. There is a weakness in the state’s reporting, though: the percentages are based on the Dept. of Public Health’s 2019 estimate of each town’s actual population. Towns that contain many second homes can be difficult to count accurately, and many people have moved into their second homes since the pandemic began.

    The vaccination site at Cape Cod Community College on March 30. (Photo Paul Benson)

    Most of the towns in the top 10, including Provincetown and Truro, have vaccinated more people over age 65 than the state records as actually existing in those towns. (The state calls this a “greater than 95 percent vaccination rate” for these age groups.) This data discrepancy is elevating the percentage-vaccinated number in vacation towns across the state.

    But the Outer Cape’s high numbers are not just a function of having more senior residents than the state thinks we have. Vaccination rates on the Outer Cape are strong in all age groups. A combined tally for all four towns shows that 44 percent of people 20 to 29 years old have already received at least one dose, as have 63 percent of people ages 30 to 49. This is despite the fact that these age groups became categorically eligible for vaccination only on April 19.

    The high numbers are a reflection of how many people here work in frontline, public-facing industries, especially hospitality. People who have any role in delivering or serving food, as well as people who work in retail, transportation, sanitation, and utilities, all became eligible on March 22, and the Cape Cod Vaccine Consortium — a coalition that includes Barnstable County, all 15 towns on Cape Cod, the three community health centers, and Cape Cod Hospital — made a deliberate push to get these workers vaccinated before eligibility was opened to everyone on April 19. Partly as a result, the Outer Cape towns are running well ahead of the statewide average when it comes to these younger demographics. Provincetown, in particular, is running more than 30 points ahead of the statewide numbers for 20- to 49-year-olds.

    “The data show that we are reaching essential workers,” said state Sen. Julian Cyr. “The coordinated effort on vaccination is a success, with credit due to local health agents, Barnstable County, Cape Cod Healthcare, and most especially Outer Cape Health Services.”

    None of this was a foregone conclusion for a region that is almost two hours away from the nearest state-run mass vaccination site. In February, when Gov. Baker was cutting hospitals and local boards of health out of the vaccine allocation process in favor of stadium sites, there were real fears that the region would be going into the summer season unprotected.

    Instead, with five of the 10 most-vaccinated towns in the state, the Outer and Lower Cape can think about having nearly everyone vaccinated by Memorial Day, including newly arrived seasonal workers.

    Meanwhile, the current “pause” on use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine shouldn’t have too bad an effect here, according to Barnstable County Health Director Sean O’Brien. That’s because the county and Cape Cod Healthcare both receive mostly Pfizer vaccine, since they have the ultra-cold freezer capacity to store it, O’Brien said.

    Outer Cape Health Services has been mostly receiving the Moderna vaccine. CVS locations around Cape Cod had been receiving Johnson & Johnson shots through a federal program, Cyr said, and that channel could be disrupted for a while as a consequence of the “pause.” The consortium’s leaders are optimistic that their allocations of Pfizer and Moderna doses will continue at the current brisk pace, however.

    All in all, it’s quite a turnaround from only eight weeks ago. Two-thirds of everyone here has had a shot now, and the “vast majority” of them were able to get their shot locally, according to OCHS communications director Gerry Desautels. There are thousands of seasonal workers on the way, so there’s still plenty of work to do, but the Outer Cape looks to be well positioned for the summer season that’s nearly upon us.

    COVID UPDATE

    Slowly But Surely, Vaccines

    By

    Everyone age 60 to 64 and many who work in public are now eligible for Covid vaccinations, including restaurant, retail, grocery, public works, transportation, and sanitation workers.

    There are several options for getting vaccine appointments. The state’s pre-registration site, vaccinesignup.mass.gov, will contact registered persons when an appointment is available at one of the state’s seven mass vaccination sites. But none is on Cape Cod.

    Barnstable County announces vaccine clinics on Thursdays. To receive email notification, go to barnstablecountyhealth.org and click on “community tips” for the sign-up link.

    Outer Cape Health Services can be an avenue, as it receives allocations from the state. Newly eligible patients can contact their primary care provider by email, or they can call — expect to spend time on hold. Gerry Desautels of OCHS said, “For newly eligible groups in the coming weeks, the large-scale vaccination sites will be a good option.”

    The state now publishes a weekly report on vaccination totals by town. As of March 18, 1,400 people in Provincetown, 845 people in Truro, 1,168 people in Wellfleet, and 2,033 people in Eastham had received at least one dose of Covid vaccine.

    Using the state’s estimated population for the four towns, this represents 46 percent of the outermost towns’ 11,914 residents. There is reason to believe, however, that population estimates by the state Dept. of Public Health undercount those living here.

    The state DPH estimates the population of Provincetown at 2,583, for example, and the town had 2,940 registered voters in 2019.

    Because these population numbers vary, some interesting details emerge in the state’s vaccination report: 363 Provincetown residents over age 75 have been vaccinated, for instance, even though only 278 residents over age 75 were estimated to exist. The state reports this data as a “greater than 95 percent vaccination rate.” —Paul Benson

    COVID UPDATE

    Getting Vaccine Appointments Is Still Difficult

    But joint efforts by local agencies are starting to help

    By

    Scoring an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccination has become a little easier due to tweaks to the state registration sites, but it remains a time-consuming and frustrating task. And for those not using a computer, it’s virtually impossible.

    But help is on the way.

    Local public safety and health depts., as well as councils on aging, have put together lists of those who are homebound or lack transportation. The focus is on residents age 65 and older and individuals with two or more medical conditions that qualify under state guidelines. Those lists are being turned over to organizations who can get this at-risk population vaccinated.

    The three clinics run by Outer Cape Health Services (OCHS) should be vaccinating those who are homebound from the second half of March through April, according to spokesman Gerry Desautels, who said that OCHS’s service area stretches from Yarmouth to Provincetown. The organization is using registration forms provided by the towns for each person requesting vaccination.

    “We are looking at approximately 700 identified homebound individuals and 350 to 400 vaccines for low-income, subsidized senior housing with transportation challenges across our towns,” said Desautels in an email.

    Eastham Health Director Jane Crowley said the towns have been busy. “We’re doing all we can to provide assistance,” she said.

    Chris Hottle, director of the Provincetown Council on Aging, said her COA had about 20 names of homebound residents, but other departments were working on getting their own lists to OCHS.

    Hottle said Outer Cape residents have been lucky to have OCHS. “They really stepped in,” she said. “There’s a level of trust there.”

    In a letter to the Independent, Provincetown Housing Authority Director Kristin Hatch also praised OCHS for its success in getting the elderly and disabled residents at the town’s Maushope facility vaccinated.

    “We are overwhelmed by how smoothly the process went,” Hatch wrote.

    Both Crowley and Hottle said the bulk of the calls for help have been from those having difficulty securing appointments. “The online registration program has had all kinds of issues, and it’s very frustrating,” Crowley said. “We’re working with Outer Cape Health Services, Harbor Community Health Center, and Cape Cod Healthcare to reach out and help those people.”

    OCHS patients who have their own transportation can contact their doctors and schedule vaccinations at OCHS clinics in Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Harwich Port.

    “We are ordering weekly and vaccinating weekly at each health center while maintaining our regular health center operations,” Desautels said.

    Even those who are not patients can go onto the OCHS website and fill out a registration form, which can be dropped off or faxed. They will then be contacted.

    Vaccines in Short Supply

    One of the greatest challenges has been the inadequate supply of vaccines provided to the Cape.

    “As long as the governor continues to open up eligibility for more groups without having enough doses to support the previous rounds of eligibility, accessing appointments will continue to be difficult,” said Provincetown Health Director Morgan Clark. She advised signing up for alerts on provincetown-ma.gov and calling one’s primary care physician.

    But conditions are improving due to the recent establishment of the Cape Cod Regional Vaccine Consortium.

    The consortium, which includes Cape Cod Healthcare, Barnstable County, the Cape Cod legislative delegation, town health officials, and community health centers, is behind the large-scale vaccination site set up at Cape Cod Community College in Barnstable.

    The state has upped the amount of vaccine provided to the county, which is expected to be 1,170 weekly doses of Pfizer vaccine, according to Barnstable County spokesperson Sonja Sheasley.

    Two clinics were scheduled to administer 1,200 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, Sheasley said in an email. Since J&J is a single-shot vaccine, those who received it are fully inoculated.

    “According to the state, we likely won’t receive J&J again until early to mid-April,” Sheasley said. “But, as always, this is subject to change.”

    The county has been busy. To date, it has run 39 clinics and administered a total of 11,059 first and second doses.

    Cape Cod Hospital has also begun receiving vaccines weekly. Currently, Cape Cod Healthcare (which operates the hospital) is contacting eligible high-risk residents by phone to book vaccinations. They include those who are not Cape Cod Healthcare patients, according to information provided by spokeswoman Christina Peaslee.

    Cape Cod Healthcare is also working with Barnstable County to request access to the PrepMod scheduling system so it can make appointments available to the public.

    Educators Added to the Mix

    Starting today, March 11, the state’s 400,000 K-12 educators and staff and child-care workers will also be vying for appointments.

    Teachers’ and firefighters’ unions have been pushing to allow local EMTs to administer the vaccine to educators at their schools.

    “We have vaccines available, and we have a comprehensive plan that will work,” said Cheri Armstrong, a teacher at Monomoy Regional Middle School and chair of the Cape and Islands Area Mass. Educator Action Network. “We are just sorry all these proposals are still just sitting on Gov. Baker’s desk.”

    Educators were allowed to book appointments at CVS prior to today, since the pharmacy operates under federal contracts. “Some of my colleagues have gone online as early as 5 a.m. on the CVS site,” Armstrong said. “Some have been successful, and some have not.”

    For those looking for help in navigating the state’s registration system, Barnstable County has set up a 10-minute video tutorial at bit.ly/BCPrepMod_Demo. Advice includes logging on at least 30 minutes before opening time; not refreshing the browser; not setting up filters by checking off boxes such as “seniors” or “adults”; and, once into the system, simply scrolling down through dates and locations to find the clinic you’re looking for.

    © 2025 The Provincetown Independent, all rights reserved.

    terms of service