Falmouth Coronavirus Update: 131 Total Cases

FALMOUTH, MA – There are 131 total cases of the new coronavirus in Falmouth as of Friday, according to Falmouth health officials. There are 860 total cases of the new coronavirus in Barnstable County as of Friday.

Falmouth now accounts for 15 percent of all cases in Barnstable County. At least 60 percent of the cases in Falmouth have recovered and are out of isolation, according to Scott McGann, Falmouth Health Agent. The town continues to conduct contact tracing through the Visiting Nurse Association in order to help stop the spread of the virus.

More than 64,300 people in Massachusetts have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday afternoon, according to Massachusetts Department of Health data. According to the data, there have been 154 additional deaths, bringing to total number of deaths statewide to 3,716.

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There were 2,106 newly reported cases since data was released Thursday afternoon, and 947 confirmed cases are currently in ICU.

In Massachusetts, there have been 289,636 COVID-19 tests performed, with 13,989 new tests reported Friday.

Massachusetts residents will soon need to wear a face covering if they are public places where social distancing is not possible — including grocery and retail stores and public transportation. Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters Friday his executive order will go into effect May 6.

The order will not apply to children under the age of 2 or to those with medical exemptions. Anyone else not wearing will be subject to a $300 fine and could be denied entry into businesses.

Here are the latest updates from Falmouth:

SCHOOLS

Falmouth Public Schools will remain closed for the rest of this school year. The district will continue with remote learning via the Continuity of Learning Plans until June 26, 2020. While closed, all school activities are canceled. The purpose of these closures is to allow for the preventative action of social distancing.

BUSINESSES

Not everything is closed in Falmouth because of the coronavirus pandemic. Many essential businesses are still open to provide services such as food take-out, eyecare and more. We've created a simple small business directory to help residents see what's open in Falmouth.

We put a call out to local businesses on Patch this week and asked them to update their status, give details on how you can continue to patronize them and to let the community know how they can best help during these challenging times. You can find the local guide here.

HOSPITALS

Cape Cod Healthcare has provided information on COVID-19 testing on Cape Cod. People who have a cough and shortness of breath, as well as fever, chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or new loss of taste or smell may have coronavirus. Patients need a doctor's order to be tested. Testing cannot be performed on anyone without a doctor's order and Cape Cod Healthcare will turn away anyone who arrives at a testing site without a doctor's order and appointment.