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Provincetown Creates Registry for COVID-Safe Businesses

Pedestrians walk down Commercial Street in Provincetown, Mass., in May 2020. A study of a new outbreak in Provincetown found that three-quarters of those infected were fully vaccinated.
Maddie Meyer
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Pedestrians walk down Commercial Street in Provincetown, Mass., in May 2020. A study of a July, 2021, outbreak in Provincetown found that three-quarters of those infected were fully vaccinated.

Provincetown has set up a new registry on its town website, highlighting businesses whose staff are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or that accept only patrons who are vaccinated.

Town manager Alex Morse told the select board this week that over 50 businesses have used the new registry since it launched last week.

"It seems to be resonating and going over well with the businesses community and folks in town, and there's a website where folks can see which businesses are getting which certificate," Morse said.

The town requires the board of health to certify businesses for the registry.

Meanwhile, Provincetown is gearing up for another busy weekend, while still recovering from the impact of its surge of COVID-19 cases stemming from early July.

Provincetown Carnival is scheduled to begin next week, and the town has posted signs to alert visitors of its indoor mask mandate, which remains in effect.

Town manager Alex Morse told the select board that he does expect to see more COVID-19 cases.

"We are expecting more people to be in town and want to set the expectation that there will be cases, an uptick in cases," Morse said. "We by no means expect the magnitude that we saw the first two weeks of July, given the information that has gone out."

This year's Carnival Parade has been canceled.

The full list of businesses in the town's new Stop the Spread registry can be found here.

Sam Houghton left CAI in February, 2023, to become News Editor at the Martha's Vineyard Times.
He worked at CAI since the summer of 2017. Before that, he worked at the Falmouth Enterprise, where he covered local politics.