The total number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is back down to single digits, with the boards of health reporting only four new cases last week.
All four cases were reported from individuals tested at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Each case is being followed by public health officials. Two of the cases had symptoms, and two did not. Three are fully vaccinated, and one is unvaccinated. Two of the cases are in their 40s and two are in their 30s.
Last week’s low case count comes as the boards of health plan to keep a mask mandate in effect until January.
Meanwhile, the hospital is offering Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson booster doses to eligible individuals. Individuals must be:
- At least 65 years old
- 18-64 years old with a qualifying medical condition (click here for a list of qualifying conditions)
- 18-64 years old and live or work in a high-risk setting (click here for a list of high-risk settings)
The hospital is also offering Pfizer COVID vaccines for children ages 5 to 11.
Parents and individuals can book appointments online via the hospital’s scheduling platform at mvhospital.org, clicking the yellow banner at the top of the page, and following the prompts.
If you look at the graph it is a pattern of spike, drop, spike, drop. Interesting to see if we are headed into another spike. The island has gotten off relatively light in the last year and a half, over 1000 cases and zero fatalities. The conventional wisdom is that Covid has a 2 to 3% fatality rate, which would translate into 20 to 30 Vineyarders losing their life to the pandemic. Instead, the number zero.
It is inexcusable for the Board of Health of MV to collectively continue their power trip by using their Covid fear mongering rhetoric/ tactic to justify their position on upholding the indefinite mask mandates they inflict on our community while others are successfully lifting theirs. They are simply using ‘holidays’ as an excuse to extend the mandates, buy time, what will it be next? The country is on the decline and is learning to successfully live with Covid like the flu and other strains. The metrics speak for themselves yet that doesn’t matter to them here on MV.
Our country is recovering and moving on despite those who would like this pandemic to continue and expecting everyone else to shut up, comply and live in fear like them.
To inflict a constant state of fear upon a community based on a biased narrative and selective data between a select group of people simply to justify an overreach of on going mandates is irresponsible and untrustworthy, no one believes the BoH ever had intentions of lifting the mandates regardless and that is abuse of power within our community. To uphold a mandate without adequate justification that supports it, (while other surrounding towns, county’s, states are lifting theirs no problem), without following the current metrics and stats, a board refusing to answer specific questions by their constituents and supplying facts that back up their reasoning speaks volumes.
Sincere condolences, Tracy, on the tragedy of having to abide by the mandate of the evil BoH and wear a mask a bit longer than you’ve decided is needed. Helping to protect the most vulnerable among us should not be considered at all. It’s all about you and your freedumbs, and I am just so sorry that you are forced to endure this unbearable hardship of covering your mouth and nose when indoors in public. So sad I could cry.
Tracy this is all about “”shut up and obey””. Covid is going to be with us just like the flu and some will get it and some will die. Some people want zero covid cases and zero deaths and will hold the rest of us hostage with shrill intimidation.
Andrew, we are in a fascinating time where there is sparse logical conversation about this issue. I do not believe Covid is a hoax, and I have no desire to get it. At the same time, there seems to be this bizarre mindset that wants to inflate the danger and create a metric where we can’t resume normal activity until there are no cases and nobody dies. I think a fair metric would be the flu, which claims approximately 60,000 lives a year. With the new medications that reduce hospitalizations from Covid, the risk will soon be on par with the flu, if not lower. Will that satisfy the “keep the masks, keeps the restrictions” crowd? That will be an interesting moment.
…and some people want to keep those that can’t be vaccinated, like small children, safe. No harm in waiting until January to revisit the removal of the mask mandate.