Cape Expecting Strong Summer Season, But COVID-19 Worries Remain

HYANNIS, MA — Cape Cod officials said they are optimistic the region will have a strong tourist season this summer, but anxiety about new coronavirus variants remains.

A day after CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the B.1.1.7 strain is now the "most common lineage" in the United States, state Sen. Julian Cyr (D-Truro), and other officials on the Cape Cod COVID-19 Response Task Force, said new variants of the virus are playing a big role in driving up the region's case count.

"We do know that we have COVID variants that are present here on Cape Cod, present across the commonwealth, present across the country," Cyr said during a press briefing Thursday. "The transmissivity of COVID-19 of these variants now really may impact us this summer, so that's why we are working really hard to prepare and communicate what we’re expecting."

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health last week designated about half the towns on Cape Cod as red, or high risk for COVID-19 spread. There were 213 new cases on the Cape between Monday and Wednesday, according to Vaira Harik, the interim director for the Barnstable County Department of Human Services.

Harik said new cases went down since last week, but it's still too early to tell if the Easter holiday weekend will have an impact on the infection curve.

How New COVID-19 Variants Will Impact The Summer

Officials said they are optimistic about Cape Cod having a strong summer tourist season because unlike other parts of the state and U.S., the region's travel and tourism sector is rapidly hiring workers.

"For the Cape to be bucking that trend, we're really proud of that," said Wendy Northcross, the CEP for the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

Cyr added that hotel bookings already look strong, and he expects more, as the region's vaccination rates increase.

"We're working hard to get our residents vaccinated, and I'm confident if the supply continues, we should get it to all our residents [before high summer season]," Cyr said.

But Cyr said some challenges remain.

Cyr said one of the challenges will be getting essential workers, especially younger ones vaccinated. He said Cape Cod health officials are collaborating with local health agents to reach essential workers town-by-town, but reaching them isn't as easy as reaching seniors or homebound residents.

"It is a difficult population to reach, and some of the tools to reach them are different," Cyr said. "With older adults, people tend to pick up their phones a lot more I don’t know a millennial who doesn't screen their calls before picking up the phone. I know I do."

Another challenge reaching the essential worker population is that many of them aren't on the Cape yet. Many of the workers are seasonal, and their numbers will only increase in the coming months, Cyr said.

Another problem Cape Cod may have to deal with this summer is tourists relaxing their mask-wearing and social distancing habits. Cyr said some members of law enforcement gave the task force anecdotal evidence that they are seeing fewer people on main streets wearing masks.

Cyr said the task force will double down on its messaging around wearing masks before the height of the tourist season.

"If you're not doing that (wearing a mask), you're just plainly being a jerk," Cyr said. "Know that if you're not wearing a mask, you're really just disrespecting the people that live here year round."