Island boards of health reported six new coronavirus cases on Tuesday as Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury joined Edgartown in swiftly approving new construction guidelines amidst the Island’s continuing case surge.
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital reported a seventh new case on its website, but the case was not reported in the official daily case update from Island health agents.
The new construction guidelines were voted in at meetings of the Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury boards of health Tuesday. Among other things, they limit job sites to a maximum of 10 workers and mandate masks — including in vehicles — as well as the presence of a jobsite safety officer at all times.
At the Oak Bluffs board meeting Tuesday morning, health agent Meegan Lancaster pledged strict enforcement and said safety and health officials had already noted 13 vehicles with passengers that were not in compliance with the mask regulations. Ms. Lancaster said the town had mailed warnings, and that the second infraction would result in a fine.
“I think we have a very short leash on this, a lot of messaging has been done,” Ms. Lancaster said. “This has been in place for months, we’re going to inspect, you’re going to get one warning and then we’re most likely going to be pursuing fines after that. Chronic violators will have their job sites shut down.”
Later Wednesday, West Tisbury also approved the guidelines after brief disagreement among its board of health members. Although Jessica Miller and Erik Lowe immediately backed the guidelines, board chairman Tim Barrett expressed concerns about the economic consequences of such regulations on the construction industry, and eventually abstained in the vote.
Edgartown unanimously approved the new guidelines on Monday, which represent a return to the second phase of a construction moratorium that all six Island towns instituted back in early spring when the pandemic first began.
Tisbury and Chilmark are expected to approve the guidelines at meetings Wednesday.
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, the Island reported at least six new cases of the coronavirus Tuesday, according to a daily update from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and the boards of health.
Two new cases were also reported among staff at the West Tisbury School, according to an update on the Island public schools wesbite. The two cases mark the first employees or students to test positive in the West Tisbury elementary school. School officials wrote in the update that the cases were contracted outside the school building.
Overall, the Island currently has seven students and three staff in quarantine due to positive virus tests. Five of the students are at the Oak Bluffs School.
The hospital, which is testing symptomatic patients and their close contacts, has now had 191 patients test positive for the virus — up seven from Monday, when 18 new cases were reported over the weekend. But in a phone call late Tuesday evening, Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said that she had only received notification of six positive cases.
The boards of health reported that no new patients tested positive for the virus at TestMV, which is focused on asymptomatic virus testing. The site has been jammed this week, as hundreds have lined up for testing in advance of the holiday.
A patient who was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 19 in fair condition remains hospitalized as of a hospital update at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Hospital chief nurse Claire Seguin said in an email to the Gazette on Monday that the patient was in good condition.
And Cronig’s owner Steve Bernier, who was airlifted to Boston more than a week ago with Covid-19 his wife Constance Messmer confirmed, was scheduled to arrive back on the Island Tuesday, just in time for the holiday.
Statewide, the Department of Public Health reported 2,225 new cases of Covid-19 Tuesday and 20 deaths. The state has now had more than 204,000 patients test positive for the virus, and 10,551 die.
There are now nearly 1,000 patients in hospitals statewide, including more than 200 in intensive care units.
Maia Coleman and Aaron Wilson contributed reporting.
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