This summer, ticks are the talk of the town on Martha’s Vineyard. On Wednesday, they were also the subject of a roundtable discussion at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury where Gov. Maura Healey gave her support to Island organizations and town efforts, urging locals to push on with tick mitigation and preparedness.
The event brought the governor into a local — and national — conversation about what some local health experts say is the largest public health issue the Island has faced since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My first concern is public health and the devastating harm that ticks cause for people,” Healey told The Times after the roundtable. “I’ve met a lot of people who have had alpha-gal, who’ve had other tick-borne diseases, and that’s my first concern. It’s a public health issue, and we need to address it.”
On Wednesday, Islanders who are involved with ticks, through both public and private associations, welcomed Healey. Joining her were state officials including Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Tom O’Shea, Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robert Goldstein, and Cape and Islands Sen. Julian Cyr. The talk was moderated by the executive director of Tick Free MV, Virginia Barbatti.
Each local representative highlighted the efforts underway to mitigate tick-borne conditions. One of those is a more aggressive form of deer culling through deer damage permits, which allows qualifying agricultural properties to bring hunters to act as pest control against deer, which Healey threw her support behind yesterday. Deer are the main reproductive hosts for ticks. But the top recommended mitigation is preventing ticks from latching on to skin.
The Island’s only tick epidemiologist, Lea Hamner, spoke on Wednesday about the severity of ticks and tick-borne conditions. She referenced her journey from being a public health official in Washington to her move to the Vineyard.
“I thought I was getting away from an epidemic, leaving COVID behind in the rear view,” Hamner said. “Here I am dealing with a new version, and it really is stunning having actually handled the pandemic and dealing with this. There’s definitely differences, but it’s truly remarkable the growth of alpha-gal syndrome on this Island that has happened in the last five years.”
The situation is getting increasingly dire for Islanders, seasonal residents, and tourists, not just because of the health risk, but also through the scope of the economy. The Vineyard community has been careful to maintain the land as a continually sought-after vacation spot through restrictive zoning and conservation efforts. But now, the 100-square-mile Island is becoming defined by a miniscule arachnid.
The Times asked Healey about the economic impact of ticks after the roundtable discussion, and she said it’s one of her top considerations after the public health implications of the rampant tick-borne conditions.
“The Vineyard is such a special asset for our state, and we want to make sure that our tourism industry and the economic productivity of the Vineyard continues,” Healey said. “I heard today about all the folks on the Island who work outdoors for their livelihoods and to support their families, and the presence of ticks and the presence of something like, you know, the Lone Star tick and alpha-gal is something that really limits and interferes with their ability to earn a living. That’s a problem.”
At the roundtable in the Agricultural Hall, Healey advised those present to be even more vigilant through tick education. She offered ideas for more preventative techniques to the public, such as posters on buses, the Steamship Authority, and tourism hubs. She also suggested increasing access to EpiPens and pledged potential financial assistance from the state for initiatives like a new deer processing center.
Tick-borne conditions can range from Lyme disease to a relatively new, and certainly worsening, syndrome called alpha-gal. The meteoric rise in alpha-gal cases, which is an allergy to mammalian products caused by lone star tick bites, is mainly because of a higher number of ticks. It is also partly due to a brand new system of data collection for the condition. Alpha-gal became a reportable condition on April 1, and the data is still coming in.
In just three months of reportability, Hamner said there have been 300 new reports of alpha-gal positive Islanders. The boards of health in each town now have to investigate each of those, the severity of the allergy, and when the person started seeing symptoms. And since January, 200 additional Lyme cases have emerged.
“That’s a stunning change,” Hamner said. “Six years ago, only nine tests were performed in the hospital period, and two were positive. So it’s a really dramatic change to life here.”
While there is antibiotic treatment available for Lyme disease and some other tick-transmitted illnesses, there is no approved medical treatment for alpha-gal syndrome. For some, the allergy goes away on its own. But with every additional tick bite from a lone star tick that carries alpha-gal, the condition gets worse. This puts outdoor workers at higher risk. And the allergy, like any severe allergic reaction, can be fatal if anaphylaxis occurs and no EpiPen is on hand.
“Even in the last five years that I’ve been here, I’ve seen a pretty dramatic change where Lone Star ticks are…an added burden,” said Patrick Roden-Reynolds, Island tick biologist.
And those who work outside aren’t the only locals with elevated risk. Bret Stearns, Chilmark police officer and acting resource officer for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), said tribe members have greater odds of getting a tick-borne condition because so much of their lives take place outdoors.
“We were seeing big numbers there, because the Tribe is a resource-based people,” Stearns said.
But that’s not his only worry. The Wampanoag Tribe members on-Island, Stearns said, are also concerned about chemical tick treatments. He said spraying backyards doesn’t just keep ticks away. It can harm the entire Island ecosystem.
“Outdoor sustenance harvesting has had a profound effect on all age levels, and I’d say the goal from the tribal perspective and my own personal perspective is to work through the local, state, and federal organizations…to find ways that we can reduce the impact, the human impact, by minimizing the amount of chemical interference in wildlife and in our environment,” Stearns said.
For Stearns, hunters, and private tick groups on the Island, deer culling is the most appealing solution to the tick problem. At one point, a photo of a deer that was recently killed by a hunter was passed around to Healey and state representatives. Over 150 ticks were found on the deer’s left ear alone.
Expanding hunting access and deer damage permits to conservation land was also discussed, since the Island’s separation from the mainland and development of housing over time has resulted in higher concentrations of deer in wooded areas and sprawling backyards of private homes.
“These deer populations are now getting more and more concentrated,” said Joseph Capece, president of the MV Hunt Club.
There’s a deer cooler, one of a few on the Vineyard, at the Agricultural Hall’s campus, which the organization has plans to expand. Healey pledged support for that initiative. Processed deer are donated to Island Grown Initiative for their food pantry, and are given for free to Islanders as a protein-rich food source.
Co-executive director of Island Grown Initiative, Noli Taylor, said the Vineyard has “the fifth highest food costs in the country, and many, many Islanders struggle to access the food that they need.”
“With all of our partners in this room, we’ve…distributed 3,000 pounds of venison through our Island food pantry so far,” Taylor said.
Outside of the Agricultural Hall after the roundtable, Healey doubled down on the public health risk of tick prevalence.
“Frankly, with climate change, we’ve seen more things come north,” Healey said. “So my message to the public is: Make sure you’re out there checking for ticks… Check your kids for ticks. If you see something that’s concerning, make sure you get to a doctor for your care.”
“Quick action is really important,” she added. “We’ve got to be looking at everything, and doing anything and everything, so that people aren’t suffering here in Massachusetts or elsewhere.”