Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have skyrocketed in the past week with the Martha’s Vineyard boards of health reporting 101 new cases between March 28 and April 3.
The 101 new cases are more than double the 47 new cases reported during the week of March 21-27, and more than the second-highest weekly total this year, which is 99 cases reported during the first week of January.
Clusters of affairs continue to appear all over the island, with a new group of nine people related to affairs in the Barn Bowl & Bistro. According to a Facebook message, the restaurant will remain closed for the next few days. A group at Shirley’s Hardware has grown to six businesses and a group of businesses affiliated with King’s Barbershop has grown to eight.
The island had five other groups, including an October wedding (eight cases), Cronig’s Market (19 cases), a Bible study group (11 cases), MV Hospital (five cases) and Project Headway (four cases).
A group is defined as more than two people from different families or households with a shared source of infection.
In total, there have been 1,097 confirmed positive results on the island since testing began in March – 547 men and 550 women. There were also 61 probable cases – 35 men and 26 women. There were 398 cases – 36 percent of the total – linked to at least one other case. In most cases, family members or small social groups were involved.
The hospital has now done 15,621 tests, with 782 positive results. There were 14,764 negative tests and there are 67 results pending.
Meanwhile, TestMV, located in the parking lot at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, has now taken 35,022 tests, with 291 positive results, 35,409 negative results and 322 tests still pending.
The city of Aquinnah conducted 444 self-administered tests, one of which was positive, 441 negative, and two results were pending.
The Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools passed 9,469 tests. Of these, seven tested positive.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) reported a total of seven positive cases of COVID-19.
Depending on how tests are performed, there may be a difference between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.
Meanwhile, as of Friday, the hospital has administered more than 11,000 total vaccine doses – 6,853 first doses and 5,524 second doses.
Vaccine approval was extended Monday to ages 55 and older. The next round of vaccinations in the hospital will be made available for registration on Saturday 10 April at 08:00. Eligible individuals can enroll at bit.ly/mvhospitalvaccine.
Those eligible for vaccines include persons over 60, individuals over 18 with two chronic health conditions, adults working in public and private senior housing, K-12 educators and staff, child care workers and workers in the following categories: cafes, food, agriculture, retail, food service, groceries, convenience stores, food pantries, transportation, public works, sanitation, public health, court system and funeral services.