After a months-long holiday surge, coronavirus cases on the Island have dipped in recent weeks to pre-winter lows, with health agents reporting 10 new cases over the weekend and zero on Monday.

The dip in cases comes despite recent hospitalizations and new case clusters, including at the hospital and an Island preschool program. Island numbers mirror a statewide decline in case counts that has occurred since late January.

According to an expanded Covid-19 case report issued Friday, the Island saw a total of 26 cases reported between Jan. 31 and Feb. 6, the lowest weekly total since the first week of November, when 24 cases were reported. Shortly thereafter, cases spiked on the Island, with health agents reporting 66 cases the next week, more than 730 in the next three months and averaged 58 per week.

Case numbers peaked during the first week in January, when the Island saw 99 new cases reported.

But those numbers have tailed off in recent days, with the Island reporting single-digit case counts most days last week, including four new cases on Thursday and two on Friday. The weekend also saw relatively low case totals, with health agents reporting five cases Saturday, five cases Sunday and zero new cases on Monday. The zero case count reported Monday marks the first day with no new cases in months.

Eight of the 10 new cases were tested at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital; the other two were tested at TestMV. Health agents did report one probable case of the virus Monday.

In a brief interview Monday, Tisbury health agent Maura Valley acknowledged that case numbers had declined and thought that the dip could reflect the Island putting the holiday season in the rear view mirror.

“I’m hoping that this is a sign that we are past the holiday surge and things are getting a little bit more manageable,” Ms. Valley said. “Hopefully they’ll stay down.”

Friday’s report also confirmed a four-case cluster in the Island Project Headway preschool program. Ms. Valley said the cluster involved both students and staff at the Oak Bluffs YMCA Project Headway location. Although cases have been reported at Project Headway previously, which is a preschool program run under the Island public school umbrella, they had been contained and unconnected.

Ms. Valley said no new cases related to the Project Headway cluster had been reported.

“I haven’t heard of any more cases, so hopefully that is contained,” she said.

Island schools have dealt with viral spread largely outside the school system since the fall, with data showing that the schools have had between nine and 24 positive cases among students and faculty at any given time since November. There have been between 29 and 81 students and staff quarantined at any given time as well, newly available data shows.

Despite that, Island schools have largely kept the virus under control as they transition to in-person or hybrid learning. A comprehensive testing program that began in January has only brought up three positive cases out of 2,808 random tests among students and staff.

Ms. Valley said her next worry centers on school vacation week, which begins Feb. 23.

“My concern now is that we are heading into February vacation time,” the health agent said. “Every time we say the numbers are down, they jump back up again.”

Community spread is still occurring on the Island, according to health agents and hospital officials. In an email to The Gazette, Ms. Valley clarified the official CDC meaning of the term, which on the Vineyard has been used to reflect the increasing case numbers and difficulty identifying their source.

“Community spread means people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected. Each health department determines community spread differently based on local conditions,” Ms. Valley wrote, quoting the CDC. “It could also apply to the hospital employees who did not have contact with the patient or other staff infected by that patient,” she said.

There are currently three patients hospitalized at the Vineyard Hospital with the virus, according to a hospital website update. The hospital has not updated its vaccination numbers since last Thursday. A cluster among seven hospital staff started after exposure to a Covid-positive patient two weeks ago. Four staff had direct contact with the patient, while three others contracted the virus through community spread.

Meanwhile, state Department of Public Health trends show that a similar decline in Covid-19 numbers is occurring throughout the commonwealth. The state’s seven-day weighted case average is now at about 2,000 cases per day, down from the nearly 6,000 per day reported for a prolonged time after the holidays.

Gov. Charlie Baker has expanded capacity limits at restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and other businesses to 40 per cent normal volume in accordance with declines in hospitalizations and new case numbers.

On Sunday, the state reported 3,004 new cases and 76 new deaths. There have been 14,689 total deaths in the state since the pandemic began, with none occurring among residents of Martha’s Vineyard.