TestMV, the comprehensive coronavirus testing site at Martha’s Vineyard High School, saw its first positive Covid-19 result on Wednesday, ending a 16-day case-less streak on the Island and marking the Vineyard’s first asymptomatic coronavirus patient to test positive.
The individual is a woman in her 30s, according to a daily testing report from the Island boards of health. The new positive case marks the only currently active coronavirus case on the Island, and the first positive test on the Island not conducted at the hospital.
“Since the individual was tested at the high school site it is likely that they are asymptomatic,“ Tisbury health agent Mara Valley told the Gazette in an email Wednesday. “I believe they may be the first asymptomatic patient to test positive on the Island as, prior to opening the high school site, only individuals with symptoms qualified for testing. As with all positive cases, contact tracing is being conducted to identify individuals who may have been exposed to this individual.”
The positive result on Wednesday brings the Island’s total coronavirus caseload to 47. Of the 47 cases, 31 patients have tested positive for the virus, 13 have tested positive for viral antibodies and 3 have been symptomatically diagnosed.
TestMV has tested 1,118 patients since opening to the public at the end of May. All 931 previous test results — including those for frontline healthcare and grocery workers — had come back negative until Wednesday, when the first positive result was recorded. There are still 186 tests from the site pending.
The test site at the high school is open to anyone on the Island and is focused on testing asymptomatic patients, free of charge. Patients interested in scheduling a test can call 877-336-9855.
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, which tests symptomatic patients and their close contacts for the virus, has not recorded a positive test result in the past two weeks.
According to its daily web update, the hospital has tested 1,275 patients for the virus, with 28 positives, 1,204 negatives and 43 pending. Two patients have tested positive for the virus off-Island.
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