Island Health Care, the Island boards of health boards and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital are slated to receive 4,050 home test kits courtesy of the federal government program to distribute free rapid tests, it was announced late Thursday.

The tests are due to arrive in the coming weeks, with details to come.

“Specific town distribution sites are currently being determined, so please check local town websites next week,” the announcement said.

Home tests have been scarce on the Vineyard, as cases of Covid-19 are sharply up again, mirroring the rest of Massachusetts and the country as the Omicron variant fuels a fresh spike of infections over the holidays.

Health agents on the Vineyard reported 82 confirmed cases in the week ending Christmas Day, a slight dip from the week prior. But this week saw new cases rise sharply, with 99 positive cases reported for the five-day period from Sunday through Thursday. Another 50 probable cases were reported by the boards of health for the same time period from over-the-counter test kits. Information from at-home tests is now being collected through a website that allows people to log their information.

It is not yet known whether the variant is present on the Island; samples were sent for testing last week, according to Tisbury health agent Maura Valley, who is the chief spokesman for the six boards of health.

As of Monday this week, no one was hospitalized with the virus. Last week, five people were hospitalized.

“At the moment we have zero patients hospitalized with Covid-19,” chief nursing and operations officer Claire Seguin wrote in an email to the Gazette Monday. “The number thankfully never passed five and there have been no additional transfers. The remaining patients from last week were discharged home in good condition.”

Ms. Seguin declined to comment on the vaccination status of those who have recently been hospitalized with Covid-19, citing privacy laws. But she did release year-to-date numbers for hospitalized Covid patients, reporting that 52 patients have been hospitalized with the virus so far in 2021; 72 per cent of them had not received a vaccine.

“The sickest were unvaccinated,” Ms. Seguin said.

Further up-to-date information was not immediately available from the hospital at press time Thursday.

Meanwhile, home test kits have been in short supply around the Island.

Chilmark announced in an email to residents Wednesday that it had run out of tests provided as part of the state program offering free rapid tests to certain communities throughout the commonwealth. Calls to the board of health in Oak Bluffs, the only other Island town to receive free at-home tests from the state, are met with a pre-recorded message saying more rapid tests are expected to arrive Jan. 7. When they arrive, those tests will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis, the recording said.

In addition, supplies at pharmacies across the Island have been low for months. Vineyard Scripts owner David Perzanowski said that when he did have a stock of tests, they went fast.

“I mean, very fast,” he said.

Mr. Perzanowski said he doesn’t expect more tests anytime soon, either. The cost to stock the shelves, he said, is prohibitive.

“We have to buy them wholesale for the price that’s more than Walmart sells them retail,” he said.

Another pre-recorded message at the Stop and Shop pharmacy in Edgartown informs callers that no tests are available there, either. An employee there said tests are on backorder, and the pharmacy hasn’t had them in stock for three months.

Efforts continue to make vaccines widely available, with the Covid vaccine bus due return on Sunday, Jan. 9 at the regional high school. Two time slots will available to serve ages 5 and above.

Vaccination shots for ages 5 to 11 years old take place from 9 a.m. to noon, and shots for ages 12 and above are from noon to 5 p.m. Booster shots are available for ages 16 and older. All vaccines require preregistration.