‘We must maintain vigilance’: New cases on Nantucket rise to 30 as officials move to prevent further spread
The surge in new cases is evidence of community spread among tradespeople on the island, according to the town.
The number of new COVID-19 cases on Nantucket continued to climb into the start of this week, with officials holding an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the “minor surge” of the virus that has emerged.
Related Links
The town began sounding the alarm on Friday after 14 new cases were confirmed in two days, evidence of what health officials said was community spread of the virus among tradespeople working in landscaping, construction, and cleaning on the island.
Roberto Santamaria, the town’s health and human services director, told officials during the joint emergency meeting Monday of the Select Board and Board of Health that the number of new cases had risen to 30 in the previous five days, bringing the total number of cases on the island since the start of the pandemic to 93.
“We must maintain vigilance,” he said of working to contain the virus.
Santamaria said during the meeting that there was the expectation that the island could see an uptick in cases related to spreader events around Labor Day, but the officials “didn’t know it was going to be as large as it was.”
The town is monitoring the outbreak both through increased testing and analyzing the island’s wastewater, since sewage indicators can predict outbreaks a week in advance, allowing more preventative measures to be taken, he said.
“In this case a lot more people presented than expected,” he said. “We’re hoping that in this coming week, you’ll see cases start to go down.”
Officials are urging anyone who receives a call from a contact tracer to cooperate with the effort to trace and contain the spread of the virus. In addition to the town’s contact tracing initiative, the island is also getting help from the state’s Community Tracing Collaborative.
So far no cases on the island have been connected to the retail, food, or hotel businesses on the island, according to Santamaria. The primary community hit by the outbreak is the landscaping industry, followed respectively by cleaning and construction businesses.
“It’s mostly because they are working together on the job site, sharing tools, and sharing housing,” he said. “So we’re trying to get information out — outreach and education to them.”
Santamaria said the town will be dropping off masks and personal protective equipment, or PPE, packages along with information in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on how to quarantine and self-isolate at communal housing locations on the island over the next week to prevent further spread.
The aim is to focus on outreach, contacting those who are ill and the affected industries, using “precision” in offering support and education to prevent further spread.
“Then if we don’t see any sort of improvement based on both the sewer and the daily incidents — those are the two primary metrics we’ll be using — then we’ll start enforcing a little bit more,” he said, explaining that would mean issuing fines for failure to wear masks or social distance on job sites.
Santamaria said business owners in landscaping, construction, and cleaning can also expect to be hearing from his office.
“What we’re asking is if you know if any of your staff members are sick, please let them stay home — do not force them to work, it only makes things worse,” he said. “We are hearing that anecdotally already. What we’re also running into is that we need to find out if you do have communal housing. If you do have dormitories, please set up a quarantine ability for your staff, if you do get somebody who is positive so that they can isolate within that communal housing.”
Officials held off any action for tightening enforcement or regulations for any particular industry on Monday, but will meet again Thursday to discuss next steps and new data on the outbreak.
If the outbreak continues to get worse, the town may have to consider further action, like a moratorium for the affected industry, Santamaria said.
“But we are trying to avoid that if possible,” he said.
The health and human services director acknowledged that concerns around immigration status have been part of the resistance so far to participating in contact tracing, and said the town is reaching out to an immigration resource center for assistance in dispersing information related to COVID-19.
Santamaria emphasized that the town does not report “anything” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of its contact tracing for coronavirus.
“That is not anything we do — we are strictly here to protect public health,” he said. “We do not ask about immigration status, we do not report immigration status. We do not even report points of origin, we don’t report addresses. So the only people who have access to the address is myself in the office — no one else here — and now my seasonal inspector, who I’m going to be having deliver packages, and then the hospital. That is it.”
Santamaria said the town is working on finding alternative housing options for individuals who test positive but are unable to self-isolate because they live in communal housing.
Town Manager Libby Gibson stressed that officials are focused on addressing how vulnerable populations are impacted by the outbreak, particularly those who may face financial hardship and food scarcity should they not be able to work.
She said there is infrastructure in place to provide individuals with food and financial assistance while they recover.
“There is a concern that employers are not taking this seriously as perhaps they could be,” she added. “And there are anecdotal stories from employees who live in housing where people come in and they aren’t paying attention to the safety protocols. That’s a problem. And that hopefully is where these care packages of PPE will help. But it only helps to the extent that people wear them and utilize them.”
Officials are also hearing anecdotally that employers “don’t like to see employees in line” for testing at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Gibson said.
She urged people not to study the testing line and pass judgement.
“They are getting tested for good reason, let them get tested unquestioned,” Gibson said. “It’s important that that happen.”
Even though the outbreak is largely confined to specific industries, officials agreed the communities across the island need to step up and do their part to prevent additional spread by following guidelines for face coverings and social distancing.
“Everyone has let their guard down and we need to re-up all our vigilance,” Santamaria said, adding later, “We need to pivot and get that guard back up.”
Dawn Holdgate, chair of the Select Board, agreed, saying residents have gotten too comfortable with the end of the summer season and arrival of Labor Day, which has brought a lower influx of visitors to the island.
“We’ve all got to wake up and dial back to the original principles here of keeping your mask on when you’re all out around non-family members, and not having or attending any kind of gatherings, keeping your distance even if you’re outside seeing people at the beach or in other public venues.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com