Public health officials across Cape Cod are expanding free COVID-19 testing opportunities in response to higher demand from the public amid the rise of the delta variant across the region.
Barnstable County officials are reactivating the free testing program at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth two afternoons a week, the Cape Cod Times reported.
“We just want to make sure we have enough opportunity so if people want to get tested, they can get tested,” said Sean O’Brien, director of Barnstable County’s Department of Health and Environment.
Cape Cod Healthcare has expanded its COVID-19 testing availability from five days to seven days per week.
A state-sponsored free mobile testing unit at Veterans Memorial Community Center in Provincetown, which was scheduled to end on Saturday, will continue through Labor Day weekend, Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse said.
Provincetown was the site of a surge in cases late last month.
At Whole Health Pharmacy in Hyannis, which provides free testing, the number of people showing up to be swabbed has risen from two a day in early July to 60 per day as of Wednesday, pharmacist and owner Karryn Lewis said.
MAINE
Maine is dealing with a surge of the delta variant of the coronavirus but there is a bit of good news — nursing homes have been spared the worst of it.
As of Thursday, there have been no deaths and about 40 COVID-19 infections in residents and staff members in five long-term care home outbreaks since the beginning of July, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention data.
The lone death during that period was a Gorham House resident who tested positive while in hospice, the Bangor Daily News reported.
By contrast, 36 people died in more than three dozen outbreaks in January before residents and staff were widely vaccinated.
High vaccination rates and strict adherence to health protocols are working, Angela Westhoff, CEO of the Maine Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes.
VERMONT
Burlington city employees who have not been fully vaccinated will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests as of Oct. 8, Mayor Miro Weinberger said.
In addition, workers for the state’s largest city are required to wear masks indoors when working with members of the public until Chittenden County has reached a moderate transmission level per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
The county was at a “high” level of transmission as of Friday, according to the CDC, with about 181 cases per 100,000 reported in the past seven days.
Burlington started requiring face coverings in retail stores and city buildings in May 2020, but that regulation was lifted in June.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
An organization that represents community health centers in New Hampshire and Vermont supports mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for all health care staff.
Bi-State Primary Association is a nonprofit organization created to expand access to health care in both states. Its 31 member organizations include federally-qualified health care centers, rural health clinics and other facilities that provide care to more than 300,000 people.
Officials say with cold weather right around the corner and children heading back to school, now is the time for everyone who is eligible to get a vaccine.
