Three new COVID clusters – Martha’s Vineyard Times
Updated 3:30 pm
There were 97 new COVID cases reported last week and three new small clusters.
For the fourth week in a row, new confirmed cases of COVID-19 increased, according to the Martha’s Vineyard boards of health weekly report. The previous week there were 87 new cases.
The continued rise in new cases is a troubling sign for the Vineyard amid the spread of the Delta variant. Of the 97 cases, 44 are symptomatic, six have no symptoms, and the status of 47 was unknown. The new cases included 41 fully vaccinated individuals, two partially vaccinated, 28 unvaccinated, and the vaccination status of 26 was unknown. There are 81 cases still being followed by public health officials and 16 who are not.
Of the new cases, 69 were reported by the hospital, which tests symptomatic individuals, 24 at TestMV, which tests asymptomatic individuals, one at the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and three from other providers.
The new cases included every age category, but the most were in the younger categories with 26 in their 20s and 18 in their 30s.
There have been 232 cases reported in August, 19 percent of the 1,241 cases reported this year.
As of this week, there have been 17 new cases—16 on Sunday and one on Monday.
The three new COVID clusters came from Fine Fettle in West Tisbury (four cases), the Terrace at Charlotte Inn in Edgartown (four cases all staff), and Fishbones in Oak Bluffs (three cases all staff).
Fine Fettle CEO Ben Zachs told The Times Fine Fettle is back open after briefly closing for the weekend. He said the employees that tested positive and were vaccinated experienced mild symptoms, but the adult-use cannabis store closed out of an abundance of caution and to test the rest of its staff.
“We’re back open with a smaller group, closing a little early,” he said. “No one wants to be closed in the busiest weeks of the year…you take short term losses for long term benefits.”
Gerret Conover, owner of the Charlotte Inn, told The Times the Inn is open and the cluster of cases was from the attached restaurant, the Terrace.
“We’re planning to reopen tomorrow with limited capacity for guests only,” Conover said.
He said the employees that tested positive did experience symptoms, but he declined to say if they were vaccinated.
Michael Santoro, who owns Fishbones, said the restaurant closed due to a propane leak in the kitchen and had nothing to do with COVID.
The Island has now reported a total of 15 COVID clusters since the pandemic began. Alchemy (15 cases all staff), Port Hunter (four cases, one probable), Harbor View Hotel (six confirmed, four probable), an October wedding (eight cases), Cronig’s Market (19 cases), a Bible study group (11 cases), M.V. Hospital (five cases), Project Headway (four cases), King’s barbershop (eight cases), Shirley’s Hardware (all six staff), the Barn Bowl & Bistro (nine cases), and Cardboard Box (three).
A cluster is defined as more than two people from different families or households with a shared source of infection.
As of August 20, the hospital has administered a total of 23,918 COVID tests. Of those, 1,298 are positives and 22,612 are negatives.
The hospital has one patient admitted in good condition, according to hospital communications specialist Marissa Lefebvre. The patient was admitted last week.
Since Wednesday, the hospital had two COVID related transfers both in fair condition.
The TestMV site has administered a total of 41,193 COVID tests. Of those, 429 are positives, and 40,764 are negatives.
The town of Aquinnah has administered 656 tests, with four positive results.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has reported a total of 23 positive cases of COVID-19.
There were 18 positive tests reported at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, from a total of 16,122 tested.
Due to how tests are conducted, there can be a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.
Updated with comments from Marissa Lefebvre and updates on this week’s cases. — Ed.