By Joseph Sohm @ Shutterstock.com
Joe Barrett reports in the Wall Street Journal:
Resort towns rely on visitors as their economic lifeblood, but as the new coronavirus pandemic rages, many are asking nonresidents to stay away.
More than 12,000 residents of Cape Cod, Mass., signed a petition this week asking authorities to turn away visitors and nonresident homeowners from the two bridges that are the only access points to the Boston-area summertime playland.
Cape Cod has 214,000 permanent residents and about twice as many in the summer, according to the local Chamber of Commerce.
The hook-shaped cape, which is technically a man-made island because of a canal, has two hospitals with 354 beds and capacity to ramp up to 500, according to Cape Cod Healthcare. The system has 116 ICU beds and 80 ventilators, a spokeswoman said.
The state is reporting 283 cases of Covid-19 in Barnstable County, which includes the Cape.
Cape Cod’s Ms. Hickman, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, said in her radio interview that she decided to start the petition when she saw New York license plates at the grocery store or the beach.
