Like February in August: Post-July 4th Weekend Finds Ptown Businesses Hit Hard

A week ago Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse announced that the town had a test positivity rate of less than 5 percent. Morse said that the town is making progress towards cluster containment, reported CapeCod.com.

But the gay vacation spot has yet to recover from the recent national attention when it was identified as a COVID cluster over the July 4 weekend. Will Carnival help lift it out of its tourism doldrums?

"Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Public Health�published data�from their investigation into the COVID outbreak in Provincetown," wrote Boston radio outlet WBUR. "The data found the delta variant caused the vast majority of cases and three quarters were in people who were fully vaccinated."

In June, the Boston Globe reported, the town was on the cusp of recovery after restrictions devastated last summer's tourist season.

"And, just in time for the summer season, the community had achieved one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. Provincetown was open for business. Tens of thousands of unmasked people arrived each week to take part in the renaissance," the Boston Globe wrote last week. It appeared to get off to a good start: Despite unusually large crowds in June, Provincetown didn't report a single COVID case during the month.

Then came the July 4th weekend with rainy, cold weather, which was followed by Bear Week, which brings thousands from all parts of the country to party. What first appeared to be contained, suddenly became a crisis. "By the middle of Bear Week, positive cases were rolling in at 20, 30, almost 40 a day. By Thursday, Provincetown hit its peak positivity level of more than 15 percent, up from zero percent a few weeks earlier," reported the Globe.

In all, more than 1,000 cases were linked to the July Fourth outbreak, with 600+ from Massachusetts and 400+ from out of state. "About 90 percent of all the cases involved the Delta variant, according to a CDC study, and almost three-quarters of people infected were vaccinated. Vaccinated patients had viral loads just as high as unvaccinated people.

Ptown resident and conservative writer Andrew Sullivan said the outbreak was a case of a story blown out of proportion. Speaking to CNN earlier this month, he said: "And the truth is, the end result of that was seven people ended up in the hospital out of 60,000 people, and no one died."

He continued: "And there were some people who got a little sick, friends of mine, like my next door neighbor, but it was like a little cold – a mild few days flu, was not a big deal – but the story, I mean, this amazing story of all the gays coming to this little town, and exploding the virus, it was just too good, too good a story for journalists to resist."

But, he added, "the result has been this town has been shellacked. It's been absolutely knocked sideways, so businesses and people have canceled in, in ways that are irrational, and our businesses here are suffering terribly. And I hope people will realize this is not a danger zone; it is extraordinarily safe here."

Though COVID numbers are significantly down, tourism has yet to bounce back. "Even though the number of new cases connected to July's Covid-19 outbreak here continues to drop, businesses are seeing the booming sales of early summer take a nosedive," wrote the Provincetown Independent.

"Craig Malcolm, who has worked in Provincetown for 15 years and is a barker at Tin Pan Alley on Commercial Street, has never seen the town so dead in the peak of the summer season. Since Bear Week, which was July 10 to 18, Commercial Street has been quiet, he said."

" 'It's like it's February," said Malcolm. After thinking for a second, he added, 'We've had more people in February.' "

Businesses such as Tin Pan Alley, the Independent reports, have seen business drop 40% - 60% since the outbreak. Another restaurant, Bayside Betty's, told the Independent they've seen business drop 25% as business owners, who scurried to find help in a labor-scarce market earlier this summer, were now forced to cut back shifts.

With Carnival (sans parade) coming this week, will business pick up? It's a big unknown for Jimmy McNulty, an owner of Jimmy's Hideaway. "Knowing whether that's happening might help people decide whether to come to Provincetown or not," he said. "I absolutely want more people to come," but, the article added, "based on an informed, safe decision."

Earlier on Monday, it was announced that the town officials have launched�a voluntary program that designates vaccination-safe businesses, with certificates to display to potential patrons looking for assurances about the COVID-19 virus, reported Wicked Local Provincetown.

"There will be residents and visitors that are more interested in visiting those businesses that they know the entire staff is vaccinated and that they are around other vaccinated individuals," Town Manager Alex Morse said.�

For a full schedule of Carnival events, follow this link.