The Thanksgiving holiday brought a slight letup in Island coronavirus case numbers, with Island health agents reporting four new cases on Wednesday and three on Thursday — the fewest daily totals in more than a week.
The seven new cases reported since Wednesday bring the Island’s weekly total to 45 new coronavirus patients as a case surge continues and the Island experiences community spread, according to health officials. The 45 new cases represent a small dip from the past two weeks, which each saw upwards of 60 cases, but still the third highest weekly case total since the pandemic began.
Strict construction guidelines have been instituted in the five largest Island towns, limiting worksites to a maximum of 10 employees and requiring masks at all times, among other guidelines, after health agents noted a large portion of cases connected to the building trades.
In an email accompanying the daily case report Friday, Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said that five of the cases reported since Wednesday came from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, which is testing symptomatic patients and their close contacts for the virus. A sixth case was reported at TestMV, a comprehensive testing site located at the regional high school and asymptomatic patients, and another patient was tested at the Boston Medical Center.
Friday’s expanded report stated that the Island currently has 37 active cases, down from a high of 68 reported last Friday. Nine of the patients who tested positive between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21 are still in quarantine, as well as another 28 who tested positive this week, according to the report. A patient who had been hospitalized at MVH for nearly one week with Covid-19 was also discharged on Thursday, according to an online update on the hospital’s website. Chief nurse and operations officer Claire Seguin wrote in an email to the Gazette that the patient was in good condition. There are currently no patients hospitalized with the virus, according to the hospital’s update.
Health agents did not report any further case clusters or new large case groupings in the expanded weekly case update. Currently, 122 of the Island’s total 285 confirmed laboratory positive patients have been connected to another case, accounting for 44 per cent of the total case load. The two largest reported case clusters were connected to a wedding held this October and Cronig’s Market.
Statewide case numbers saw little let up over the holiday, with 4,464 cases reported since Wednesday. The Department of Public Health did not release a daily case update on Thanksgiving. The DPH also reported 29 new deaths, bringing the statewide total to 10,635.
Just under 1,000 patients are currently hospitalized with the virus across the state, including more than 200 in the ICU.
