There were 55 new COVID-19 cases reported last week, showing another rise in cases on Martha’s Vineyard after several weeks of a downward trend.
The rise in cases is the Island’s first significant rise since mid-April. Last week’s cases are a 22 case increase from the previous week’s 33 cases.
Between May 16 and May 22, the 55 cases consisted of 46 from the hospital, six from TestMV, one staff member from public school testing, one from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and one from anohter provider. The majority of individuals who tested positive were in their 30s or younger with 13 in their 30s, 19 in their 20s, seven in their teens, seven younger than 10, five in their 40s, and four in their 50s.
Of the 55 cases, 41 were symptomatic, 10 were asymptomatic, and four were unknown. To date there have been 1,473 confirmed cases on the Vineyard — 756 male and 717 female.
There was a new three-case cluster reported last week at the Cardboard Box in Oak Bluffs.
The cluster was all staff members of the restaurant.
The Island has now reported nine COVID clusters, including an October wedding (eight cases), Cronig’s Market (19 cases), a Bible study group (11 cases), M.V. Hospital (five cases), Project Headway (four cases), King’s barbershop (eight cases), Shirley’s Hardware (all six staff), the Barn Bowl & Bistro (nine cases), and Cardboard Box. A cluster is defined as more than two people from different families or households with a shared source of infection.
Dukes County and Nantucket counties continue to have the highest COVID-19 positivity rate in the state, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.
As of May 19, the two Islands have had a combined 2,868 positive cases since testing began in March 2020. In the first two weeks of May, the Islands have had a 4.76 percent positivity rate. The next highest is Bristol County with a 2.70 percent positivity rate.
State data combines Dukes and Nantucket in its weekly COVID reports.
Edgartown has the highest positivity rate on the Island with a 7.85 percent positivity rate, Oak Bluffs is second with 6.51 percent, followed by Tisbury with 4.91 percent, and West Tisbury with 4.58 percent. Chilmark and Aquinnah are both at zero percent.
Percent positivity is calculated by dividing the number of positive tests by the total number of tests during the time period.
As of Friday, the hospital has administered 18,394 tests, with 1,057 positive results. There have been 17,284 negative tests and 45 results pending.
As of Monday, TestMV, which is located in the parking lot at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, has now administered 38,108 tests, with 371 positive results, 37,472 negative results, and 265 tests pending.
The town of Aquinnah has conducted 456 self-administered tests, of which two have come back positive, 454 negative, and no pending results.
The Martha’s Vineyard public schools have administered 43,662 tests. Of those, 18 have tested positive.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has reported a total of 12 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.
There were also four probable cases reported last week, for a total of 79 since March 2020. Of those, 45 are male, and 34 are female.
