Overview
- This week residents met with Gov. Maura Healey and pressed for looser hunting rules to reduce the island’s deer numbers, and Healey said her administration supports easing regulations including the Sunday hunting ban.
- Martha’s Vineyard opened a Tick Center this spring to centralize diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne illnesses and to coordinate care for people with alpha-gal syndrome.
- Hospitals and clinics report 1,516 positive alpha-gal tests since 2020 and about 400 treated AGS patients, a distinction officials use to caution that a positive antibody test does not always mean symptomatic disease.
- Restaurants and food businesses have changed menus and kitchen practices to avoid cross-contamination, added plant-based and allergy-safe options, and in some cases created separate alpha-gal–friendly menus for affected diners.
- Local clinicians and researchers are preparing studies to better measure how many antibody-positive people develop symptoms, and first responders now carry EpiPens as part of stepped-up public-education and emergency-preparedness efforts.