Domestic workers advised on virus safety

At a Zoom meeting hosted by the Martha’s Vineyard Community Ambassador Partnership Thursday night, novel coronavirus facts, tips, and figures were conveyed to the Vineyard’s domestic workers in hopes of blunting spread. Nearly every sentence uttered was translated into Brazilian Portuguese by interpreters Debora da Costa and Poli Bellan Wilson. The meeting came as the Island tied its highest positive count to date — 19 in a single day.

“As many of you know, we’re currently in a surge of cases and seeing community spread,” Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said to the attendees, “which makes it very difficult to determine where somebody was exposed. As of today, we’ve had 390 confirmed positive cases on the Island. Nineteen of those were today, which ties for the highest daily report we’ve had. On Nov. 11 we reported 19 cases.”

Valley went on to note of the 390 cases thus far, more than 50 percent occurred in the past month and a half. She also pointed out that one Vineyard town remains a red zone in the eyes of the commonwealth.

“The state classifies communities based on the risk of transmission of the virus,” she said. “Right now Edgartown is considered red or high risk for transmission. And Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are yellow, which is moderate for transmission. If we were to look at the Island as one community and apply the state’s criteria to it, the entire Island would be a red, high-risk community.”

Data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health shows positivity rates vary significantly on the Vineyard. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 8, fewer than five people tested positive in Aquinnah, out of 327 tests (<1.5 percent). In Chilmark, exactly five people tested positive out of 2,325 tests (0.21 percent). In Edgartown, 106 people have tested positive, out of 6,835 tests (1.55 percent). In Oak Bluffs, 71 people tested positive, out of 4,421 tests (1.6 percent). In Tisbury, 110 people have tested positive out of 8,572 tests (1.28 percent). In West Tisbury, 36 people tested positive, out of 3,034 (1.18 percent). 

Valley stressed that due to the scale of infections on the Vineyard, contact tracing is getting difficult, and exposure can be around every corner: “It’s extremely important for people to choose their risks carefully to protect themselves, and their family, and their community.”

West Tisbury health agent Omar Johnson outlined practices all workers should adhere to, and pointed to a couple specific to domestic workers.

Johnson repeatedly said the bedrock principles for safety are mask use, social distancing, and handwashing. 

He said everyone in a work vehicle must be masked, and advised cracking a window to improve ventilation, if at all possible. He emphasized mask use in a work vehicle is requisite even for members of the same family. 

For domestic workers specifically, he advised giving fellow workers, and anyone else encountered inside, a wide berth at all times, and to plan ways to work indoors in as isolated a manner as possible. As he did for vehicle travel, Johnson advised opening a window in a house or other structure to boost ventilation. 

Johnson said that keeping one’s distance from others during smoke breaks, coffee breaks, and lunch breaks, when a mask may be off, is essential.

Domestic workers should never feel compelled to work if they notice somebody in a household is exhibiting symptoms of illness, he said.

“Until we have a vaccine for COVID-19, it is important for us to all carefully monitor ourselves for symptoms,” Chilmark health agent Marina lent said. “And they could be mild — things like sore throat, cough, fever, or stomach problems. And if you feel these symptoms, you’ll have to decide, will you ignore the symptoms and keep working, or will you isolate immediately, get tested, and stay isolated until you get your results?”

Lent said the price for ignoring the symptoms is exposing friends, family, coworkers, and other members of the community to infection. And if infected, those people stand to spread it further, she pointed out, in an expanding web of sickness. 

Leah Palmer, co-founder of the Martha’s Vineyard Community Ambassador Partnership, asked why it was so important to remain vigilant in the face of so many mild cases.

“They’re not all mild,” Valley said.

“You don’t want to be careless and expose a loved one to this virus and then have them get extremely ill,” she said. “We may not have a lot of hospitalizations on the Island, but that’s not the case off-Island. So it’s still very important to be careful, because some people do get very ill, and you want to protect them and protect our hospital from being overwhelmed.”

Martha’s Vineyard Hospital spokesperson Marissa Lefebvre said the hospital remains open for outpatient and inpatient services, and recommended folks not delay health visits due to the pandemic.