Half of Watertown Residents Vaccinated, Cases Down, Number of Deaths Reaches 40

Even as the rate of COVID-19 continues to drop in Watertown, three more COVID deaths of Town residents were reported last week. Vaccinations are on the rise, with more than half the Town fully vaccinated, and now children age 12 and over can get one of the vaccines.

On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced all industry and capacity restrictions will be completely lifted on May 29. The mask mandate will be lifted in most places, but still be required in public transportation, health facilities and K-12 schools and early education schools. Statewide, 3.2 million residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the Mass. Department of Public Health.

In Watertown, 54 percent of residents — 17,839 people — are fully vaccinated, according to the MassDPH report of May 13, and 71 percent (23,495) have at least received their first vaccine shot.

Forty Watertown residents have died from COVID-19 according to the Town Manager’s Coronavirus Update from May 14. Three deaths were reported this week, and two the previous week. The Town has had 2,324 total cases.

Percent of Watertown Residents Fully Vaccinated by Age

The number of COVID cases was 24 over the previous 14 days, according to the Mass. Department of Public Health’s May 13 report, which is lower than the previous report. The positive test rates in Watertown dropped from 1.02 percent on May 6 to 0.74 percent on May 13.

Vaccine for Children 12 and Over

Watertown Superintendent Dede Galdston provided the following information about vaccines for school-age children, and a nearby vaccine clinic:

On Thursday (May 13), the CDC approved the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine for Emergency Use Authorization for children ages 12 and up! This is a great step for our school community to keep our children safe and protected from COVID19. Appointments are easy to book, and I recommend using the vaccine finder search tool on the Mass.gov site: https://vaxfinder.mass.gov/. There are several convenient locations in or near Watertown that have the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine. The School Department is also pursuing options for a school-based clinic.

Additionally, our friends and Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols (BB&N) are offering a vaccine clinic on May 22, with the follow-up shot on June 13 for children ages 12-18. The clinic at BB&N will be managed by Brewster Ambulance Company and you may sign up for your child’s appointment through this BB&N COVID Clinic Registration site. Note that each person being vaccinated who is under the age of 18 years old will need to come to the clinic with a parent or guardian who is able to provide consent to the child receiving the vaccination. The vaccine will be covered by your insurance at no out-of-pocket cost to you. If you do not have access to insurance, leave the insurance information in the sign-up form blank.

Please use the same link to register for a second appointment on June 13—this is very important to ensure you have access to the second shot for your child! Both clinics will be held on BB&N’s Upper School campus in the Nicholas Athletic Center gymnasium at 50 Gerry’s Landing Road. Some parking will be available at the NAC with more parking next to the Upper School building at 80 Gerry’s Landing Road. If you have any questions about the clinic or issues with registration, please reach out directly to Kelly at Brewster Ambulance at kmagyar@brewsterambulance.com. Thank you to BB&N for extending this opportunity to WPS families.

Please note that at this time, mask-wearing indoors and outdoors is still required on WPS school grounds, even for students and staff who are fully vaccinated. The guidance changes rapidly, and any modifications that we make regarding mask-wearing will be communicated as soon as decisions are made.

COVID testing will continue into the foreseeable future, as it is still possible to get COVID even if you are vaccinated.