In the last full week of reporting cases of COVID-19, the number of positive test results reached 55 from Sunday, August 21, to Saturday, August 27. That’s up from 29 the previous week.
The Island remains at low risk for community spread, according to the report issued by the Island boards of health. There was one hospitalization over the seven-day period, and no one remains hospitalized.
This comes as the Island boards of health have announced that they will end the practice of issuing weekly reports as of Friday, Sept. 2.
“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 last Wednesday, August 24. “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 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) high-risk category again, or if our data suggest public notification is advisable,” Valley wrote.
Between Sunday, August 14, and 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.
I’m sure that the hordes arriving last week and jam packing themselves into BRW performances, beginning on Thursday evening and lasting through Sunday won’t increase the spread at all. Not at all. Thanks for showing us in oh so many ways how much the BRW promoters and producers care about islanders. But lots of island businesses made lots of money and many enjoyed the recklessness so it’s all good. Nothing else matters if you’re of that mindset.
Glad to see we are all now following the guidance of the CDC that was issued. We as a community have preached to “follow the science” and as the new science comes out we are obliged to follow it as well, not just when it suits our beliefs. As you can read for yourself from the CDC’s website, there is no longer any need to avoid large crowds or wear a mask UNLESS you have been exposed and tested positive. Hordes of people have been coming all summer and our hospital remains empty and our cases low. I was one of many who enjoyed the “recklessness” and have every right to. For reference below you can read the updated CDC guidance.
Nearly everyone claims to favor science but many mean only the science they want to believe.
(https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/isolation.html)
Gotta read the fine print, Dylan, about infection control decisions. Many look only to the part of the science that lets them not care about others. Isn’t it great that those just recovered/recovering got an antigen test before going to the festival? And wore a mask out in public as long as they should have? And reported their case from home testing? And who cares about rebound or asymptomatic cases spreading illness? Not one person of the thousands at the festival was covid positive or just recovered from covid. Hallelujah. Milagro. And not a single mask in sight in the photos of the packed crowds because no one tested positive, (or would have tested positive if they bothered to take a test), just recovered, or is vulerable to serious illness. Science is great that way. Woohoo science
Do you see the people shopping in the supermarkets or pharmacy early in the morning wearing masks? They did not go to the festival. But someone who did go and got infected will spread it and will put a few who are vulnerable in the hospital or worse. That’s how pandemics go. Talk about listening only to information you want to hear– info that you think gives blanket permission to do something outrageous to the island– during a pandemic. Money and good times, though. Woohoo money and good times.
And woohoo people listening to what they want to hear and ignoring the rest.
I have to agree with Dylan. While covid is far from done with us, we seem to have beat it down to something manageable at this point. That is not to say that some variant might pop up and kill thousands of us a day. At this point, there are about 400 deaths per day in the u.s . That’s really high, but the great majority are elderly and have underlying conditions– and of course, some are not smart enough to get vaccinated.
But for the most part, the risk to healthy vaccinated people enjoying an outdoor concert, or even an indoor one for that matter has been reduced to the acceptable risk taking that we all calculate every day.
I appreciate your concern Jackie–We need to stay vigilant– but we all have lives to live.
People make their own choices about the risks they take. To criticize the promoters of BRW is ,in my opinion, a bit misplaced.
The festival was helpful to some (eg money and good times) and hurtful to others (eg closed roads and businesses, intruding on neighbors, spreading illness, imposing on health and safety infrastructure). Was it worth it? I suppose it was if you made money and had a good time. If someone gives you covid from it and you can’t breath? Not so much.
Life can be fully lived without thinking up ways to do things that hurt a lot of people, even when a lot of people think it’s fine because they can make a buck or have a good time. This was the epitome of imbalance for our island coming to terms with living with covid and housing and teacher/healthcare worker shortages. People like me can’t go to these things, (not that I ever favored long lines and huge crowds pre-pandemic). And then people like me hope and pray we don’t pay the price for you getting to go and spreading illness. It’s all about self-interest and I get that. But how this actually helps Martha’s Vineyard as a place to live and thrive and be self-sufficient and raise healthy children? The worst ad I saw for this thing, having nothing to do with covid, but signifying how little the island cares about what’s good for the people who live here and work hard to raise their families, was for the pot store telling people it’s only a short walk to buy your recreational marijuana and then back to enjoy the concerts. I know we differ on this, but celebrating and encouraging a lack of sobriety will get the island nowhere. It’s not as benign as you imagine it to be, Don. On many levels.
What exactly were the promoters promoting, aside from getting people to spend, spend, spend? Not what they seemed to be saying, as far as i can tell.
Let it go Jackie… we have lives to live. Feel free to wear a mask but please remember you don’t always know what is best for other people. We actually are capable of making informed rational decisions based on our needs. Thanks.
There is also the highly contagious Monkeypox virus to consider — and spread by touch, coughing, and sneezing. California, New York, Texas, and Florida are experiencing rapid escalating cases (including death). In fact, the USA leads the entire world in the volume of Monkeypox cases. Are any of our off-Island visitors even aware they are carrying Monkeypox in that very large and compacted crowd of Beach Road Weekend?
We shall soon learn.
https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-public-health-officials-confirm-42-new-monkeypox-cases
Jesse– one thing about an outdoor event like this is that you don’t have to be packed into the crowd right in front of the stage. There was plenty of room to spread out , and they had a number of well placed jumbotrons. If one chose to, you could spend all day there and never touch anyone.
And I wonder if any of our off-Island visitors are even aware that WE are carrying Monkeypox?
Ore are WE even aware of it ourselves?
You sound a little xenophobic.
Thanks for the link– It was quite informative.
The monkey pox virus is only HIGHLY contagious through one specific “activity”. For reference that activity along with an entire list of activities and risk factors are described in the very informative article below. An outdoor concert does not fall under the unsafe category. It’s actually quite difficult to transmit this virus without prolonged contact with an infected person.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/21/monkeypox-risk-activities-that-are-arent-safe-experts-say.html
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