The Vineyard recorded its third new coronavirus case in a week Wednesday. As August crowds and summer heat press in, case counts continue to creep up around the commonwealth and public health officials scramble to keep up with testing demand.
Meanwhile, Quest Diagnostics announced that innovations at its laboratories nationwide will enable faster turnaround times for test results, including at the TestMV site on the Island. The innovations in test pooling and RNA extraction have cut wait times for results from seven to around five days, according to a press release, and could be available in as quickly as three days by early next week.
The new case was reported by Martha's Vineyard Hospital in its daily online website update, and brings the total number of positive PCR (laboratory) tests on the Island to 55. It was the second new case confirmed this week by the hospital, which has had 39 patients test positive to date. The other positive case was reported Tuesday by the TestMV comprehensive testing site, which has recorded 16 positive tests. The Island’s total coronavirus caseload is now at 75.
The hospital continues to test symptomatic patients and their close contacts, while TestMV is focusing on testing asymptomatic patients for the virus.
The three new cases this week come as daily case numbers throughout the state are inching up again. Tuesday marked the first day since June when daily case numbers exceeded 400 in the commonwealth.
Case counts are also on the increase on Nantucket and Cape Cod. And travelers to Massachusetts from Rhode Island are now required to quarantine for 14 days and fill out a travel form before entering the state, or show proof of a recent negative test, due to a recent rise in cases in the Ocean State. A Massachusetts quarantine order for out-of-state travel took effect August 1. Other New England states, as well as New York and New Jersey, are exempt from the order.
Statewide case numbers, generally reported daily at 4 p.m., were delayed Wednesday due to technical issues, according to the state Department of Public Health website.
The TestMV site is operated through a unique public-private partnership among the Island boards of health, Quest Diagnostics and Island Health Care. Tests are sent for processing to a Quest laboratory in Marlboro.
Late last month TestMV announced that results would be delayed due to a national backlog and surge in testing demand. Previously results were available in 24 to 48 hours.
But in the announcement Wednesday, Quest said a variety of scientific developments and a plateau in testing demand had allowed it to cut expected wait times at its labs nationally.
“We have recently increased capacity through several lab innovations,” the announcement said. “These include the use of specimen pooling, which is now in place at three of our laboratories, and improvements in RNA specimen extraction. We have also expanded our lab referral network to include a half dozen laboratories to facilitate greater access to Covid-19 molecular diagnostic testing.”
Specimen pooling allows testing sites to compile individual Covid-19 tests into one batch, or pool, and then evaluate all the tests at once. If the test comes back negative, then all the samples are negative. If the test comes back positive, then all are re-tested individually, making the testing process more efficient and cutting wait times.
The technique, combined with speedier ways to extract specimen RNA, is a more efficient way to evaluate patients in regions or populations with low incidences of the disease, according to Quest. Pooling is being done at the laboratory’s Marlboro facility.
Island Health Care posted a notice on its website Wednesday announcing the shorter turnaround times.
“For all patients, the average turnaround time is five days and is expected to be three days by next week,” it said in part. “For our priority one patients, the average turnaround time is two days and is expected to be one day by the end of this week or early next week.”
More than 500 test results are pending from the TestMV site, according to the Island boards of health. The site has now tested nearly 8,000 people on the Island for the virus.
There are now five active coronavirus cases on the Island. All other cases have been completed or are no longer being monitored by public health officials.
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August 06, 2020 at 04:11AM
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Third Case This Week Reported Wednesday; TestMV Announces Faster Results - The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News
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