On a historic day that saw unprecedented events in the nation’s capital, the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage on Martha’s Vineyard, with Island health agents reporting 25 new cases, one Covid-19 patient re-admitted to the hospital and five new symptomatically diagnosed patients Wednesday.

The 25 new patients represent the largest number of positive coronavirus tests reported in a single day on the Vineyard since the pandemic began.

In a brief interview, Tisbury health agent Maura Valley said that some of the symptomatically diagnosed patients had been diagnosed by doctors in the hospital emergency room after experiencing Covid-19 symptoms.

“They had gone to the ER, not feeling well, and were acute symptomatically diagnosed,” Ms. Valley said. The symptomatically diagnosed patients are not necessarily hospital inpatients, Ms. Valley clarified.

According to a website update from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, there is currently one Covid-19 in-patient at the hospital. Hospital spokesman Marissa Lefebvre wrote in an email that the patient was readmitted on Tuesday, Jan. 5 and is currently in fair condition. The hospital classifies patient condition as either good, fair, serious or critical. Due to privacy concerns, Ms. Lefebvre said, the hospital could not release when the patient was originally admitted and discharged.

The patient is the hospital's first Covid-19 readmission since the start of the pandemic.

The Island has now had 69 new cases reported since New Year’s Eve and 121 cases reported in the past 14 days, going back to Dec. 23. Before the 25 new cases reported Wednesday, the previous single-day high case count for the pandemic was on Dec. 31, when health agents reported 21 new cases to close out the 2020 year.

There have been 602 confirmed laboratory positive patients on the Island since March, and 46 patients who have either tested positive for antibodies or been symptomatically diagnosed, for a total caseload of 648 patients.

According to the update Wednesday, 17 of the 25 new cases Wednesday were tested at the hospital, six at TestMV, the Island’s asymptomatic testing facility, and one was tested by an off-Island provider.

Ms. Valley said while no new case clusters had been reported since 11 people tested positive connected to an at-home Bible study group, virus spread is continuing at a rapid clip on the Island and that many of the cases are among family members. Of 16 cases reported Tuesday and 25 reported Wednesday, five are from one family, Ms. Valley said, with four family members testing positive Tuesday and one Wednesday.

“There are a couple of other family groups or housemates, two here, or two there,” Ms. Valley said. “But I’ve said it before: we have community spread. So it gets really difficult to figure out where people are getting exposed to it, unless it is a household exposure.”

Statewide, the DPH continued to report staggering daily case numbers, with 6,419 new patients testing positive on Wednesday and 99 new deaths. The state now has 2,416 patients hospitalized with the virus and 442 patients in intensive care units.

There have now been more than 386,000 cases in the state since the pandemic began and 12,563 have died.

Meanwhile, national news outlets reported widespread violence and chaos at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Wednesday as Congress convened to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the electoral college. The proceedings were delayed when supporters President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building, entering both chambers of Congress and putting one of the country’s most storied bastions of democracy on lockdown.

Gov. Charlie Baker condemned the violence in a statement.

“The chaos now unfolding is the sad but predictable outcome of weeks of attacks, perpetrated by President Trump and his supporters against the democratic process that makes America the greatest nation on earth,” the governor said in part.

Vineyarders watched the proceedings unfold — a breathtaking, red and pink sunset serving as the backdrop.