Joining four other Vineyard towns, the Chilmark board of health voted unanimously Wednesday to adopt an indoor mask mandate for all public spaces and all private spaces open to the public, citing the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is seeing its largest numbers of Covid and non-Covid related patients since the pandemic began, testing emergency room capacity as cases spike on-Island during the peak of summer.

The Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Tisbury boards of health voted unanimously to institute a mask mandate for indoor public spaces during a rare emergency, joint meeting Tuesday morning, changing course again as cases climb.

All three down-Island towns are scheduled to hold a joint emergency board of health meeting Tuesday to discuss an indoor mask mandate, as Covid cases continue to double by the week in August.

With a busy summer of air traffic at its peak, the Martha’s Vineyard Airport is taking steps to better manage congestion on surrounding roadways, airport director Geoffrey Freeman said this week.