The Island boards of health will end their reporting of COVID-19 cases on Martha’s Vineyard next week.
“After two and a half years of reporting case numbers, September 2 will be the last day that I issue the daily update on behalf of the boards of health,” Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said in an email on Wednesday. “With the majority of people using [over the counter] tests it is difficult to know and report the true positive case count for the Island.”
The boards will continue monitoring COVID case counts and trends and will “send out notifications and public health guidance if we enter the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) high-risk category again, or if our data suggests public notification is advisable,” Valley wrote.
According to the daily update released on Wednesday, August 24, Martha’s Vineyard is now at medium risk for COVID. There have been a total of 44 positive COVID cases and one hospitalization reported between August 18 and August 24. There are currently two people hospitalized at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for COVID.
Between Sunday, August 14, to Saturday, August 20, there were 29 positive cases reported.
Those who want to check Dukes County’s COVID risk level on their own can do so on the CDC website, which is updated each Thursday evening.
Finally, some manner of moving on…
44 positive cases reported this past week plus the unreported home test kit cases sounds like many too many for the public to be unaware of on a daily basis. Doing away with such timely public health information does not help us continue to protect those who are at greatest risk. With “rebound” covid and “long “covid still a problem and large indoor gatherings, including schools, occuring after summer is over, infection numbers will be even more important to know.The CDC report is not timely or local enough.
Unaware? You’d have to be living in a cave since 2019 to be “unaware “. Give me a break! Time to move on, the public is as educated on Covid as we are choosing to be; and it’s impressive how many online medical degrees have been handed out since then. Move on. Either choose to live your life or choose not to.
The Boards of Health will continue to monitor reported cases and trends. Updates will be issued when cases appear to be on the rise, or the data indicates we have become an area at high risk of transmission. So that our information is as accurate as possible we ask that individuals report their at home positive test results at rapidtestmv.org.
Thank you for that clarification. The community will benefit from those updates. Those who don’t want to be informed can choose not to read them.
Ms. Valley,
Why haven’t the island Boards of Health put out a statement backing up the CDCs recent announcement that all covid measures may end?
Do you then disagree with them? This information should be put out there by the Boards as well as this paper etc. There are still people testing when that is no longer the recommendation.
The CDC no longer recommends screening testing of asymptomatic individuals with no known exposure. Testing is still recommended for individuals who are symptomatic or have been exposed to the virus.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/if-you-were-exposed.html
Thank you, Maura. We appreciate the correction to Kim’s comment. I don’t know why this newspaper allows some to post false covid information, as Kim Murphy has done, more than once.
What does testing harm?
Yes, I agree. I and know of at least 5 people that have it.
An FYI to everyone: people who think they might have Covid and want to have a government-issued Covid-19 PCR test, which is available on island only at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, must first be registered with the hospital. It takes up to a week for a registrant to receive an “activation code” for a patient account at the hospital after applying online to be registered. Registration over the phone is apparently not an option because staff in Patient Registration do not answer the phone and do not return phone calls. Without the activation code for the patient account, one cannot be scheduled for the PCR test. My guess is that many cases are going undiagnosed due to this glaring organizational failure which deprives people of a government-subsidized, free test when they first have symptoms. This is terrible for the health of everyone on the island. Something should be done about it. I wish the local press would take up this issue with the hospital administration.
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