The Island boards of health reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 Friday — eight from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and two from TestMV.
As of Friday afternoon, the hospital has conducted 11,788 tests for COVID-19 since March. Of those, 544 have tested positive, 11,213 negative, and 31 are pending results.
In an expanded report Friday, the Martha’s Vineyard boards of health reported that there were 62 active cases of COVID-19 on the Island. Two active cases tested positive between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, the rest tested positive between Jan. 17 and Jan. 22.
Of the positive cases, 310 or 40 percent are connected to at least one other case. Most connections are within family/household groups, according to the boards of health. There have been 47 instances of two-person groups testing positive for COVID-19.
There are currently two patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The hospital reported that one of the two patients reported hospitalized on Wednesday was discharged on Friday. Another patient was admitted on Saturday. Both patients are in “good condition,” according to communications specialist Marissa Lefebvre.
On Jan. 12, the hospital sent a patient in “serious condition” off-Island by MedFlight. There have been four total COVID-19-related transfers since the pandemic began.
As of Friday, TestMV has conducted 30,987 tests since June. Of those, 231 have tested positive, 29,712 negative, and 1,044 are pending results.
There was one new probable positive reported Thursday, for a total of 50 since March.
The town of Aquinnah has conducted 405 tests, of which one has come back positive, 380 negative and 24 pending results.
The Martha’s Vineyard public schools have tested 1,265 individuals. The boards of health reported the school’s first positive result on Tuesday.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) reported two new cases Jan. 15, for a total of four since testing began for the tribe.
Due to how tests are conducted, there can be a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.
Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Tisbury are all in the “red” or highest risk category, according to the state Department of Public Health.
According to state data, There have been 59 positive cases of COVID-19 in Edgartown in the last two weeks and the town’s positivity rate is 8.28 percent. Oak Bluffs reported 34 cases in the last two weeks and has a 6.69 percent positivity rate. Tisbury reported 49 cases in the last two weeks with a 5.66 percent positivity rate.
According to Tisbury health agent and boards of health spokesperson Maura Valley, getting an immediate repeat test is not recommended, but she said it can be done at the discretion of a healthcare provider. Per Massachusetts Department of Public Health guidelines, if an individual tests positive for COVID-19 they should quarantine and take precautions.
Since March, there have been 782 cases of COVID-19 reported on Martha’s Vineyard. Of those, 392 are female and 390 are male, with the majority of the cases being in individuals between 20 and 39. Only 31 cases have been reported in individuals over 70 years old.
The vast majority of those cases were reported in the past two months, when the Island’s first cluster of cases was linked to a wedding in October. Since then, the Island has seen 693 cases of COVID-19 — more than seven times the 89 cases reported on the Island between when testing began in March and Oct. 25.
In addition to the wedding cluster, which reported eight cases, clusters at Cronig’s Market, with 19 cases, and a Bible study group, with 11 cases, have also been reported.
On Friday, the state reported drops in confirmed cases, percent positivity rates, and active cases, but saw a rise in deaths. There were 4,935 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state’s seven-day average of percent positivity has dropped to 5.51 percent, after several weeks of being above 8 percent. There are an estimated 88,433 active cases statewide. There were 80 new deaths, for a total of 13,702 COVID-19 deaths since March.
