Provincetown sees breakthrough cases

State reports 1 virus death over weekend

Provincetown officials on Monday said coronavirus vaccine breakthrough cases have been reported in the Cape town over the past few days, while Massachusetts health officials reported one virus death and 322 cases from over the weekend.

Infection counts have been ticking up a bit, while deaths remain at near-record low levels amid the vaccine rollout. Almost 4.3 million people in the Bay State have been fully vaccinated.

Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse on Monday said the town is aware of a “handful” of positive COVID cases being reported over the past few days among folks who have spent time in Provincetown.

“A number of cases being reported are breakthrough cases, that is, testing positive for COVID despite being fully vaccinated,” Morse wrote on Facebook.

Peoples’ symptoms are more mild when they’ve been fully vaccinated.

The breakthrough cases come as the more contagious delta variant spreads across the country and becomes the dominant strain.

“None of the vaccines are 100%, so we expect some breakthrough cases,” Boston University infectious diseases specialist Davidson Hamer told the Herald on Monday.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Public Health reported one new virus death and 322 new cases from over the weekend.

The daily average of 1.3 deaths is near the pandemic low of 1.1 deaths from last week. The state’s total recorded death toll is 18,012.

The daily average of 93 cases is up from the record low of 64 daily cases last month. The average percent positivity has increased to 0.55% from the pandemic low of 0.31% last month.

“The delta variant is definitely more contagious, so I expect we’ll see an increase in cases,” said Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health.

“Get vaccinated,” he said. “As well as we’re doing, there are still way too many people in our state who are not vaccinated.”

The state’s COVID hospitalization count is now 101 patients, which is up 21 patients from the record low of 80 patients on July 4.