Transmission rates dropped back down in Barnstable County following a small spike in the summer, and officials in the region are preparing for the likelihood that the trend direction will continue to flip as the weather turns cold.
Sen. Julian Cyr, a Truro Democrat, said during a Cape Cod Reopening Task Force call on Thursday that three-day increments of new COVID-19 cases dipped into the single digits, a positive step that reflects slower spread of the highly infectious coronavirus.
Gatherings in Truro and Falmouth sparked clusters of new cases in July, and Cyr said the latest progress may not stay on the same course indefinitely.
“It is our ongoing expectation that flares of cases will emerge occasionally as more of life moves indoors,” he said.
While Nantucket still has the highest rate of cases per 100,000 residents in the state, Cyr said the island has shown significant improvement with the most recent seven-day period averaging 20 cases per 100,000 people compared to about 45 cases per 100,000 people last week.
“The trend is decidedly downward,” he said. “We are still very much advising caution and vigilance even as the situation incrementally improves.”
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