Eligible individuals will be able to sign up for the next round of COVID-19 vaccine appointments for the week of March 1 to March 5 on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 8 am, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital’s website.
In less than an hour last Saturday, Martha’s Vineyard individuals aged 65 and older and those with two or more chronic health conditions, including asthma, booked all available COVID-19 vaccine appointments for this week.
In an email to The Times, Marissa Lefebvre confirmed that the hospital booked all 1,235 available appointments for the new group. The appointments are for this week and began today. The hospital has a total of 1,826 vaccine appointments booked for this week. This includes Saturday’s sign ups plus 591 previously scheduled second dose appointments.
Individuals will not be notified via Patient Gateway and must sign up through the hospital’s website.
Hospital officials stressed that people will need to be patient and that eligible individuals may have to wait up to a month for an appointment, depending on supply from the federal government.
The Martha’s Vineyard boards of health reported two new cases of COVID-19 Monday — the lowest weekend total the Island’s had in several months.
The hospital has conducted 13,616 tests for COVID-19 since March. Of those, 645 have tested positive, 12,940 negative, and 31 are pending results.
As of Friday, TestMV has conducted 33,245 tests since June. Of those, 253 have tested positive, 32,380 negative, and 612 are pending results.
The town of Aquinnah has conducted 428 tests, of which one has come back positive, 418 negative and nine pending results.
The Martha’s Vineyard public schools have tested 5,239 individuals. Of those three have tested positive. The public school data is updated once a week.
There are 34 active cases on the Island, according to an expanded Friday report from the boards of health — a decline from 36 active cases the previous week.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has reported a total of seven positive cases of COVID-19.
Due to how tests are conducted, there can be a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.
The vast majority of COVID-19 cases have been reported since the end of October, when the Island’s first cluster of cases was linked to a wedding. Since then, the Island has seen 822 cases of COVID-19 — almost nine times the 89 cases reported on the Island between when testing began in March and mid-October.
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.
New clusters were reported recently, with a five-case cluster at the hospital, and a four-case cluster at Project Headway.
At the state level, there were 1,150 new cases of COVID-19 Monday. There are an estimated 35,660 active cases. The state has seen a 1.9 percent seven-day percent positivity rate.There 26 new COVID-related deaths Monday for a total of 15,534.
