Health Officials Concerned About Rising COVID-19 Cases On Cape Cod
SANDWICH (CBS) - While the coming summer may be on the minds of many Cape Codders, health officials are more concerned with the skyrocketing COVID-19 cases.
Seven towns are now in the red, with a positivity rate of 5.6% in Barnstable County, almost three times the state average.
"I think it's a combination of a couple factors. One, letting their guard down. Two, visitors coming here, the weather is getting better, and I think that is part of it," Sandwich Fire Chief J.J. Burke said.
There's a new vaccination site set up at Cape Cod Community College and there's more testing going on.
"The surveillance from all this testing, that we're hoping to pinpoint what part of the population, and age bracket we need to try to reach and get vaccines to them," said Yarmouth Health Agent Bruce Murphy.
But the testing we have right now doesn't quickly identify the COVID variants and that may be playing a role in the explosion of cases on the cape
Without rapid testing that can quickly identify the variants, some Cape health officials now want Governor Baker to redistribute vaccines to the region.