Provincetown Lifts Indoor Mask Mandate, Replaces With Advisory

PROVINCETOWN, MA — Provincetown officials lifted the town's indoor mask mandate and replaced it with an advisory, following an improved coronavirus positivity test rate and declining case numbers.

The board of health and select board originally enacted the mandate on July 25th, following a massive cluster of breakthrough cases which stemmed from a busy 4th of July weekend. Breakthrough cases happen when people who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 contract the virus anyway.

Health experts with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say breakthrough cases are rare, but Provincetown became an outlier when nearly three out of four people infested amid the cluster were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At its height, the cluster reached more than 900 cases, Town Manager Alex Morse said. Most of those cases were among people who don't live in Provincetown.

Morse said the mask mandate was lifted because active cases decreased, the positivity rate dropped, and mass testing improved, especially for local businesses.

"Our public health advisory, while not a mandate, is a recommendation from public health officials that masking continue in indoor spaces when not eating or drinking," Morse said in a statement. "Many people will continue to wear a mask, and we ask that those choosing not to wear a mask respect the decision of others to wear one, and we also ask those that continue to wear a mask to respect the decision of those who decide not to wear one."

According to Morse, the number of active cases in town has been below 10 for nearly three weeks. As of Tuesday, there are just three active cases among Provincetown residents. Since July 1, there has been 281 cases among Provincetown residents, and 278 cases have since recovered.

During the outbreak, the positivity rate peaked at 15.1 percent on July 15. It has since dropped to 2.3 percent, as of Monday.

"The more accurate measure of local prevalence is the 14-day positivity rate reported weekly by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health," Morse said. "As of last Thursday, the 14-day positivity rate is 2.76% in Provincetown."

Morse said the Provincetown Board of Health distributed nearly 2,700 rapid COVID-19 tests to local businesses over the last few weeks, so the testing infrastructure is in place to continue monitoring the situation.

Morse said many local businesses are choosing to still require masks inside. He said town compliance officers and the police department will remain available to help businesses enforce their own mandates.

"COVID will continue to be with us for quite some time, and it’s important that people assess their own personal risk as they make the best decision for themselves and the people around them," Morse said. "We are learning to live with, and mitigate, the impact of the virus on our community."