Barnstable Remains High Risk For Coronavirus With 359 New Cases

BARNSTABLE, MA — Barnstable added 359 coronavirus cases over the last two weeks, bringing it to over 1,000 confirmed cases, according to town-by-town data released by the state. The town remained in the high-risk category, averaging 57.3 daily cases per 100,000 residents, with a positive test rate of 8.78 percent.

That's up from 45.9 average daily cases and a test rate of 7.81 percent in the state's last public health report, released Nov. 19. There have been 1,092 cases in Barnstable since March.

As cases grow in Barnstable and across Cape Cod, the region is facing a shortage on testing, according to officials with the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force. Cape Cod towns are among the least-tested communities in the state, especially on the outer Cape. State Sen. Julian Cyr last week called Cape Cod a "testing desert."

Task force officials announced they are scouting out locations for new testing sites. Where the testing sites will be wasn't disclosed, but there's likely to be two or three new sites.

>>Cape Cod Officials Looking For New Coronavirus Testing Sites

Across the State

The latest town-by-town report labeled 97 Massachusetts communities as high-risk, up from 81 last week. The majority of the state's cities and towns reported rising test rates.

State officials announced 49 more deaths Thursday. The seven-day average of hospitalized coronavirus patients increased to 1,324, compared to 963 last Friday.

>>MA Reports New High 6,477 Coronavirus Cases, 5% Positive Rate

Gov. Charlie Baker drew a difference between this surge and last spring at a news conference Thursday. People over age 70 are being hospitalized at much lower rates this fall, and hospitalizations have been growing at about 2 to 3 percent per day — in the spring, Massachusetts added some 4,000 hospitalizations in a little over a month.

There were 261 confirmed coronavirus patients in intensive care Thursday. In late April, there were over 1,000 such patients.

Baker said that doctors have new tools to treat the virus, including drugs like remdesivir, and convalescent plasma. But he also added that hospitals will almost certainly face additional strain in the coming weeks and months. Officials announced a new field hospital would open in Lowell within a month, and another may open in the southeastern part of the state.

To date, there have been 232,264 cases and 10,637 deaths statewide since the pandemic began. Officials estimate there are 49,225 active cases in Massachusetts.