The Provincetown Select Board has unanimously voted to enact an emergency indoor mask mandate effective immediately in the Massachusetts town in the wake of a COVID-19 cluster that has hundreds of positive associated cases.The Select Board made the vote during a joint emergency meeting with the Provincetown Board of Health Sunday evening.On July 19, Provincetown officials issued a mask advisory that asked people to wear masks indoors when social distancing could not be achieved.During the emergency meeting, the Select Board and Board of Health also voted to grant additional authority to Town Manager Alex Morse.On Saturday, Morse shared via Facebook that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is reporting that at least 430 confirmed COVID-19 cases are associated with the Provincetown cluster. Of these cases, 342 are Massachusetts residents and 153 of those people reside in Provincetown. The remainder of those who tested positive reside in other states.In his previous
Six posters bearing the first names of the 11,169 people in Massachusetts who died of opioid overdoses from 2008 to 2017 are displayed in Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeyâs office as she announces a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma.
KATIE LAnNAN
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
The court document scrolls on the screen like an eternal list of sorrow. The plaintiffs include Flint, Mich., the Navajo Nation, Nantucket, the cities of Holyoke, Fall River and Northampton, Her Majesty The Queen In Right of The Province of British Columbia, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, whose people now are in Wisconsin.
It also includes the cities of North Adams and Pittsfield among the other entities and communities ravaged by the opioid crisis and entitled to settlements from the Sackler family, founders and owners of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma. And it includes people like Gary Pratt, a Sheffield man who says he lost years of his life because of a painkiller tha
Provincetown implements indoor mask mandate after COVID-19 cluster grows to 551 cases
• 6 min read
Health officials sound alarm on surging COVID-19 cases
Every region across the country is now seeing an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images
Officials in Provincetown, Massachusetts, voted unanimously during an emergency town meeting Sunday night to reimplement the town’s indoor mask mandate, amidst rapidly rising COVID-19 infections and community spread
Since data was last updated last week, the cluster has grown to a cumulative total of at least 551 confirmed cases following a busy July Fourth weekend. Of these cases, 394 individuals are Massachusetts residents, 171 of whom reside in Provincetown, while the remaining individuals who tested positive reside in other states or jurisdictions.
CDC Panel Signals Support for Booster Shots, as Reports of Injuries, Deaths After COVID Vaccines Near 500,000
Data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) included a total of almost 500,000 reports of injuries and deaths, across all age groups, following COVID vaccines an increase of 27,761 compared with the previous week.
The data comes directly from reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), the primary government-funded system for reporting adverse vaccine reactions in the U.S.
Every Friday, VAERS makes public all vaccine injury reports received as of a specified date, usually about a week prior to the release date. Reports submitted to VAERS require further investigation before a causal relationship can be confirmed.
As COVID-19 cases rise in Provincetown, town leaders require masks indoors
PROVINCETOWN – As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Provincetown, town leaders have reinstated an indoor mask mandate.
The Select Board and Board of Health unanimously voted in favor of the mandate during an emergency joint meeting on Sunday, July 25. The meeting was held remotely, and no public comment was allowed. More than 500 people listened into the meeting.
Mandate follows public health advisory
Last Monday, July 19, the two board issued a public health advisory encouraging testing despite vaccination status and the wearing of face masks indoors.
While the issuance of the advisory did lead to some changes in the behavior of community members, it may not have led to the change in behavior town officials was hoping to see, Town Manager Alex Morse said at the beginning of the meeting on Sunday.