Updated July 16
Martha’s Vineyard is seeing an uptick in confirmed COVID-19 cases this week after the boards of health reported more new cases in the past four days than in the past six weeks.
A report from Tisbury health agent and boards of health spokesperson Maura Valley Thursday confirmed there have been 13 cases since Monday — one case more than the 12 cases reported in the previous six weeks. Of the 13 cases this week 11 have come from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, one from TestMV, and one from another provider.
The hospital has a strict set of testing criteria that focuses on people with COVID symptoms while TestMV tests asymptomatic individuals.
This all comes as the hospital has administered more than 27,000 vaccine doses — 13,674 first doses and 13,695 second doses.
“The Island is pretty busy, which I’m sure is a contributing factor,” Valley said in an email to The Times. “We’ve sent some samples to the state for variant testing but haven’t received results yet.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued the first Surgeon General’s Advisory of the Biden Administration Thursday warning about the threat of health misinformation.
“Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a press release. “As Surgeon General, my job is to help people stay safe and healthy, and without limiting the spread of health misinformation, American lives are at risk. From the tech and social media companies who must do more to address the spread on their platforms, to all of us identifying and avoiding sharing misinformation, tackling this challenge will require an all-of-society approach, but it is critical for the long-term health of our nation.”
Updated with comment from Valley and quote from Vivek Murthy. —Ed.
