Fourteen new coronavirus cases reported on Nantucket Tuesday – The Inquirer and Mirror

(March 23, 2021) Fourteen new coronavirus cases were reported on Nantucket Tuesday morning, increasing to 1,294 the total number of positive tests on the island since the pandemic began a year ago.

The results also included 111 negatives. One-hundred-three new COVID-19 cases have been reported on the island since March 1, and 27 in the past week. Health officials attributed the most recent surge to school-break-related travel. The public schools' winter break ended three weeks ago.

People ignored the travel orders and traveled anyway, Nantucket health director Roberto Santamaria said. This is the consequence of that.

Some of those who returned to the island infected with the virus then passed it on to others, he added.

"Though the people who were traveling may not be showing symptoms, they passed it on to other people, which has nowresulted in a secondary outrbeak. We must reiterate, mask orders, travel orders, social distancing, workplace orders and safety regulations are there not only to protect you, but to protect those who you come in contact with," Santamaria said.

"It is an understatement that no surge in cases is welcome. We must also recognize we are going to be particularly vulnerable in the coming weeks as the number of individuals on Nantucket climbs dramatically," Nantucket Cottage Hospital president and CEO Gary Shaw said in a statement to the community Friday.

"If the surge is not controlled it is not inconceivable that measures taken last year to stop the spread be reconsidered by the Department of Public Health, the town, and our Board of Health. Bells are ringing that we might listen and reflect on curbing behaviors that spread the virus."

Click here to read Shaw's complete statement.

The 27 new cases reported in the past week represent a 6.0 percent positivity rate.

"Our biggest line of defense is you working together with us to help prevent the spread of this heinous virus. We are in the 24th mile of a full marathon. The end is near, but we cant quit now," Santamaria said in a recent Twitter message.

There have been four COVID-19 Nantucket deaths since last March, the most recent Dec. 22, 2020, a man in his mid-80s.

The second round of Phase 2 vaccinations began in early March. Appointments for teachers, childcare workers and school staff opened March 11, and front-line workers and those over 60 March 22. The state last week rolled out its plan for vaccination of the general public, which is scheduled to begin April 19. (Click here for story.

As of Monday, 4,105 first doses and 1,483 second doses of vaccine have been administered on Nantucket.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 issued its first set of guidelines for fully-vaccinated people. Click here for more.

Free asymptomatic testing under the state's "Stop the Spread" program is administered indoors at the VFW on New South Road from 8-10 a.m. Monday-Saturday, but is limited to 75 tests per day.

Symptomatic testing is provided at the hospital's drive-through portico on Prospect Street from 7:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Hospital staff have collected 28567 nasal swabs for testing since the start of the pandemic. In addition to the 1,294 positive tests 4.53 percent of the total number returned 27,261 have come back negative, and 12 are awaiting results.

The Board of Health on Dec. 11, 2020 established a COVID-19 task force to better enforce and raise awareness of coronavirus regulations (Click herefor story).

Gov. Charlie Baker late last month lifted the 9:30 p.m. statewide restaurant closing time, and in early March increased capcacity limits for restaurants, theaters, museums and other indoor locations. Additional capacity increases took effect March 22 (Click here for story).

Part-time in-class learning for Nantucket public-school students resumed Jan. 14 after being remote only since before Christmas. State officials are targetting April 5 for a full return to in-class learning for elementary-school students, and later in April for middle- and high-school students.

"I ask everyone on Nantucket to take personal responsibility and do all you can to reduce the potential for transmission in our community. That means wearing masks, staying physically distant, washing your hands, and not hosting or attending gatherings with people outside your immediate households," Shaw said recently.

"Most of all, we want our community to stay healthy, we want our economy to remain open, we want our public schools to be able to return to in-person learning. To that end, we must work together and apply the simple preventive measures that will keep this situation from spiraling out of control."

There have been 1,231 coronavirus cases confirmed on Nantucket in the past six months, beginning Sept. 9, 2020 with a spike linked to workers in the trades, followed by a second surge in late September tied to a church function in which a communal meal was shared.

A third spike in early November was again tied to workers in the trades, followed by significant surges related to holiday gatherings and travel at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Prior to Sept. 9, Nantucket had one of the lowest COVID-19 rates in the state per 100,000 population, and the fewest confirmed cases of any county in Massachusetts.

The state's current travel order requires all those entering Massachusetts from out of state, excluding Hawaii, to quarantine for two weeks or produce a negative COVID-19 test from the most recent 72 hours upon arrival. Failure to comply could result in a daily $500 fine.

The Board of Health on Oct. 6, 2020 voted to require all people on publicly-accessible property across the island to wear a mask, not just downtown and in Sconset, as was previously mandated, and limited public gatherings to 10 people or less indoors and outside

It decided in mid-November against tightening restrictions to limit the total number of workers on a job site to six in an attempt to stop the spread (Click here for story).

Nantucket Cottage Hospital does not have an intensive-care unit and only five ventilators. Shaw has said patients in need of acute respiratory care would be transferred to mainland hospitals if at all possible.

The criteria for symptomatic drive-up testing at the hospital includes at least one of the following signs or symptoms consistent with a viral respiratory syndrome: subjective/documented fever, new sore throat, new cough, new runny nose/nasal congestion, new shortness of breath, new muscle aches or anosmia (new loss of sense of smell). Close contacts of COVID-19 positive patients and pre-procedure patients can also be tested.

For more information about symptomatic and asymptomatic testing, click here.

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Fourteen new coronavirus cases reported on Nantucket Tuesday - The Inquirer and Mirror