It's been more than a year since the first case of COVID-19 was reported on Martha's Vineyard, but there has not been one single death reported from the fatal virus on the island.
That's according to an official at Martha's Vineyard Hospital.
Hospital CEO Denise Shepici says that luck has been involved, but islanders in general took safety precautions very seriously since the pandemic began.
"We went on an all out public health campaign. We approached the building community, the business community to take this seriously. And people did," says Shepici. "People really hunkered down here."
While there have been no reported deaths in Duke's County, 4 people on Nantucket have died from complications with the virus over the year, and nearly 450 have died on the Cape. At least 100 people have died from the virus in every other county in Massachusetts, according to state statistics.
Nearly 17-thousand Massachusetts residents have died from COVID-19
Shepici says that the island did not have a surge in cases until October, when residents on Martha's Vineyard began to let their guards down.
Island health officials report there is currently a cluster of cases stemming from a barber shop in Vineyard Haven.
