Cases of Covid-19 on Martha’s Vineyard continue to dip but remain at the highest rates since the beginning of summer, even as Labor Day weekend comes to a close.
In a weekly case update, Island board of health officials reported 62 cases between Sunday, August 29 and Saturday, Sept. 4, marking a decline for the second straight week since peaking at 97 cases on the week of August 21.
Health agents reported 79 cases last week.
The 62 weekly cases reported on Monday are still higher than at any point since last spring, with the Delta variant prevalent on the Island and significant business closures throughout the month.
According to the report, 27 of the 62 cases came among fully vaccinated people, 20 among unvaccinated people and 15 remain unknown. The majority of cases are symptomatic, with 33 people showing symptoms, five reported as asymptomatic and 24 unknown.
Overall, 48 per cent, or 205 out of 427 cases since July, have come among fully vaccinated people.
And following recent trends, most cases were tested at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, which tests symptomatic patients and their close contacts. The hospital reported 41 of the 62 new cases, with TestMV reporting 16 cases and five from other providers.
A disproportionate number of cases continue to come among young people on the Island. Of the 62 cases last week, 18 were among people in their twenties and 17 among people in their thirties, representing 56 per cent of all cases. Since the pandemic began, 42 per cent of cases have come among people in their twenties and thirties.
The 62 cases reported this week bring Island case totals over 2,000, to 2,036. It took almost exactly one year to reach the first 1,000 confirmed PCR cases on Martha’s Vineyard. The 2,000 case milestone was reached just under six months later.
Statewide, public health officials have reported an average of 1,115 cases per day over the past weeks, and nearly 600 current hospitalizations, with rates rising since July.
There are currently no patients hospitalized with the virus at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, according to an online update from Sept. 1. The hospital has administered an additional 60 third dose vaccines to individuals with immunocompromised conditions.
More than 17,400 people in Dukes County have received a vaccination shot, representing about 97 per cent of the 2019 Donahue Institute population estimates on the Island, according to state DPH data.
