Confirmed cases of Covid-19 on the Island held steady at 11 on Monday, after case reporting discrepancies among the hospital, boards of health and state led to a one-case overcount.
Statewide, another 1,337 new cases were reported, the second highest daily increase since the outbreak began. There are now 13,837 confirmed cases in Massachusetts. Twenty-nine more people were reported to have died from the disease as of Monday.
Island boards of health were previously reporting 12 positive cases on the Island, including 11 laboratory confirmed cases and one case that was symptomatically diagnosed.
In an email Monday, Tisbury health agent from Maura Valley, the designated spokesman for the boards of health, said she had since learned that the symptomatic case was in fact being included in daily testing reports from the hospital, meaning there are 11 cases on the Island, not 12.
“I reconciled our positive case records with the hospital and the individual being reported by the boards of health as symptomatically diagnosed had been included in their laboratory confirmed cases as a presumptive positive,” Ms. Valley wrote. “The confirmed positive case count on Martha’s Vineyard as of April 5 . . . was, therefore, 11 total cases, all laboratory confirmed.”
The boards of health and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital are both reporting case numbers on the Island daily, but at different times of day and with different criteria.
In an effort to provide a fuller picture of the virus’s spread on the Island, the boards of health have said they will include symptomatically diagnosed patients in their numbers. The hospital has said they will only report positive test results.
As of Monday, the hospital said 145 tests had been performed, with 11 positives, 127 negatives and seven pending.
The hospital had no patients hospitalized with Covid-19 symptoms as of Monday morning. On Friday the hospital confirmed that two coronavirus patients had been flown to Boston for treatment since the outbreak began.
Meanwhile, Nantucket reported its first death from the coronavirus, a spokesman for the Nantucket Cottage Hospital confirmed Monday morning. Cottage hospital communications director Jason Graziadei said in an email that the death occurred on Sunday.
“A patient diagnosed with Covid-19 has died as a result of complications related to the disease at Nantucket Cottage Hospital on April 5,” Mr. Graziadei wrote. “We want to express our deepest sympathy to the family and loved ones of this patient.”
Due to privacy concerns, Mr. Graziadei said the hospital could not release any further information about the patient.
Both Island hositals are owned by Partners Healthcare in Boston, with Massachusetts General Hospital as the parent company.
Since the outbreak began, the two small rural hospitals have been in close contact and unified on messaging, telling seasonal residents to stay home and emphasizing their limited resources.
The Nantucket hospital has 14 beds and no intensive care units. The Vineyard Hospital has 25 beds and three intensive care units.
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