With coronavirus cases inching upward across the state, Island boards of health reported one new positive Covid-19 patient on Tuesday from the TestMV site.
The new case - a female under the age of 20 - is the second reported on the Island in as many days, bringing the total number of PCR (laboratory) positive coronavirus patients to 54 since the pandemic began. The Island’s total coronavirus caseload, including antibody positive and symptomatically diagnosed patients, is now 74.
The Vineyard has four currently active cases, according to a demographic report provided by the boards of health on Friday. All other cases have been completed or cleared from monitoring.
Statewide, coronavirus cases continue to climb gradually, with the DPH reporting 438 new positive cases on Tuesday — the most since early June — and bringing the state’s total case count to more than 111,000.
In a daily case update, the Island boards of health reported that TestMV, the comprehensive testing site at the regional high school, has tested 7,473 patients for the virus since opening in late May, with 6,905 tests coming back negative and 552 still pending.
With the new case on Tuesday, 16 patients have now tested positive at the TestMV site.
Last week, Quest Diagnostics and TestMV announced that a nationwide surge in testing demand would slow down results from Quest’s Marlboro facility, explaining the high number of pending tests.
A new travel rule that went into effect August 1 requires visitors from what are termed high risk states to fill out travel forms before arriving in Massachusetts, as well as quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Although neighboring New England states, New York and New Jersey are exempt from the requirement, Rhode Island was removed from the exemption list by the state Department of Public Health Wednesday due to rising infection rates in that state.
Tisbury health agent Maura Valley did not yet have data on how many out-of-state travelers had filled out forms, but said that the TestMV site had experienced a large volume of traffic in the past days from individuals who had pre-scheduled tests and arrived on-Island.
“I don’t believe we have access to that information yet,” Ms. Valley wrote in an email Monday. “I will say that we had a lot of people from the states requiring testing or quarantine go through the test site today.”
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital continues to test symptomatic patients and their close contacts for the virus. They have tested 3,094 patients since the pandemic began in mid-March, with 38 tests coming back positive, 2,983 negative and 73 still pending.
The age breakdown for positive cases on the Island is as follows: eight under 20, 13 in their 20’s, six in their 30’s, three in their 40’s, 14 in their 50’s, eight in their 60’s and two over 70.
With the more than 400 new cases reported Tuesday, the state has seen a modest uptick in the percentage of new positive tests reported daily, climbing from lows of 1.7 per cent to more than 2.2 per cent.
In his daily press briefing, Gov. Charlie Baker said that he would follow the advice of his health experts with regard to continuing the state’s gradual reopening plan.
“If the data doesn’t support moving forward, as we have said many times, we won’t,” the governor said.
An additional nine deaths were reported on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 8,436 since the pandemic began. There have been no deaths reported on the Vineyard.
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