The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and TestMV reported new cases of Covid-19 Wednesday, marking 13 total cases on the Island this August as hospital officials health officials planned for a changed — and potentially busier — fall season.

In the now-biweekly press briefing Wednesday afternoon, hospital head of nursing and chief operations officer Claire Seguin announced that the hospital had reported another new case of the coronavirus and the 44th positive test from the hospital overall. The hospital has now tested just shy of 4,000 patients for the virus since the pandemic began in mid-March.

There are 71 tests still pending, Ms. Seguin said on Wednesday. No one on the Island is currently hospitalized with the virus.

Later in the day Wednesday, Tisbury board of health agent Maura Valley clarified that the new case reported at the hospital was actually a retest of an individual who had previously been reported as a positive case. Ms. Valley has stated that some individuals have been tested at both the TestMV and hospital sites, leading to overlap in numbers.

"Individuals may be tested more than once to confirm illness or, in certain situations, to be released from isolation," the daily demographic report from Island boards of health states. "This may result in a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests."

In their daily demographic update Wednesday, the boards of health also reported one new positive test from TestMV, the comprehensive coronavirus testing site located at the high school. The new case is the 21st positive test from the high school site.

The update also reported three additional probable cases on the Island. All three new probable cases tested positive for viral antibodies. There have now been 20 individuals on the Island to test positive for viral antibodies.

The hospital continues to test symptomatic patients and their close contacts for the virus. TestMV continues to test asymptomatic patients for the virus.

The new case reported at TestMV, as well as the three new probable cases, bring the Island’s total coronavirus caseload to 88. Sixty-five of those patients have tested positive via a laboratory test, while the 23 have either tested positive for antibodies or been symptomatically diagnosed with the virus. In the past month, six patients have tested positive at the hospital this month and seven have tested positive at TestMV. 

“We’ve seen since our last call another slight uptick, and we expect that could continue,” hospital president and chief executive officer Denise Schepici said Wednesday morning. “We are monitoring that data very closely.”

The briefing was hosted by Ms. Schepici, Ms. Seguin and hospital communications staffer Marissa Lefebvre.

Ms. Schepici also announced that the Mass General Brigham system, formerly Partners Healthcare, had extended its work-from-home order nine months for most non-clinical staff until the end of June, 2021, signaling that the impacts of the pandemic were far from over.

“I think it was trying to project out, to prepare for a potential second surge in Boston,” Ms. Schepici said of the extended order. “The goal was to give our teams enough time to plan for the long term and keep our workforce safe.”

The order will apply to approximately 50 administrative members of the approximately 600-person Vineyard hospital staff, according to Ms. Schepici. At the height of the pandemic, 100 staffers were working from home, Ms. Schepici said.

Hospital officials also said that they were planning and preparing for an uncertain off-season. The hospital has received 90 new requests for primary care physicians, according to Ms. Schepici, potentially hinting at a larger year-round or shoulder season population and prompting a need for more clinical staff.

“That’s a lot more than we would normally see at this time,” Ms. Schepici said. “I want to actually hire a couple of new primary care physicians, just to have more capacity. And we’ve added a new nurse practitioner to our pediatric practice.”

The potential increase in off-season residents comes as the hospital faces its own financial pressures and has had to eliminate administrative positions. But after revenues bottomed out in April, causing millions of dollars in losses, Ms. Schepici said Wednesday that volume has slowly picked up as the hospital has reopened throughout the summer. Emergency room business is at approximately 90 per cent its normal volume.

Ms. Schepici also said philanthropy has increased, with the hospital already $100,000 ahead of its summer appeal from last year.

“It’s been better than last summer even without the events that we have,” Ms. Schepici said. “The community has been very, very generous to us, and we greatly appreciate it.”

Ms. Schepici also took a moment to honor her friend Shirley Mayhew, who died last week at the age of 94, calling her one of the most inspiring women she has gotten to know during her tenure at the hospital.

“Shirley was such a vibrant piece of the fabric of our wonderful Island community tapestry,” Ms. Schepici said. “Having had Shirley in my life for too short a time, reminds me how privileged I feel to serve this hospital and this community . . . I will miss her dearly.”