NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A dozen Berkshire communities are among 102 towns and cities selected to receive at-home COVID-19 test kits through the state.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Monday morning that 2.1 million iHealth Labs over-the-counter, at-home rapid antigen tests to 102 towns with the highest percentage of families below the poverty level.
The local communities receiving these tests are Adams, Clarksburg, Florida, Great Barrington, Hinsdale, Mount Washington, North Adams, Peru, Pittsfield, Savoy, West Stockbridge and Williamstown.
The tests are to be given out to those who may not have the financial means to purchase home tests.
Baker, speaking during a livestream press conference from Boston, said the communities selected were at the lowest numbers with respect to income and places where the tests would really make a difference.
"Rather than defining specifically how those might be used in those communities, we decided to make them available to communities," he said. "Those communities with the best process for distribution — there'll be some broad parameters on it — but generally speaking, we want them to do what they think makes the most sense."
The governor said access to home testing is particularly important heading into the holidays when individuals may be around more and different people than usual. The state, and county, is currently seeing a surge in positive cases not dissimilar to last year's holiday spike when people were attending gatherings.
The anti-gen tests have become much more accurate in determining positive cases of the novel coronavirus, said state officials.
"The most important thing to do here was to make them available in those communities on a grand scale, that we make it possible for them to distribute them to a lot of the folks for whom the price tag is probably beyond their reach," said the governor. "In the future, communities will be able to replenish those orders and spend some of the federal money they've currently got.
"This will make it possible for them to be a little more aggressive about how they think about distribution generally as we head into the holidays."
He said there were no plans to bring back the statewide mask mandate, saying the state is in a very different situation with some 6 million people vaccinated and boosters available.
Up to 100,000 tests are being done daily statewide and about 70,000 to 80,000 a week through the schools' test and stay program.
The cost for the tests is $10 million and they are expected to be distributed over the next four or five days.
The administration also posted a procurement opportunity on Friday, Dec. 10, for manufacturers, and municipalities will be able to order more tests in January 2022 at state-negotiated prices.
"I think the recommendation is if you're going to be an indoor gathering with people, particularly you don't know, that's one good example of when to take the test," said Marylou Sudders, secretary of health and human services.
Those testing positive should isolate for up to 10 days and notify any close contacts.
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North Adams Native Wins Sports Emmy for 'Toy Story' Production
By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
Allison Cellana, a Drury High graduate, says the Emmy was heavier than she expected. Cellana is an animator at ESPN.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass.— North Adams native Alison Cellana was part of an ESPN team that produced "Toy Story Funday Football," a production that clinched three Emmys at the 2024 Sports Emmys Awards.
"Honestly, it was a bit of a dream come true for me," Cellana said about the award ceremony that took place on May 21. "I've always sort of wanted to walk the red carpet and go to a big event like this. So finding out that my team was nominated for some awards was awesome."
Cellana, a 2014 graduate of Drury High School, is an animator at ESPN where she works on various shows such as "SportsCenter," "Daily Wager" and NFL Live.
She was part of a team of 150 or so who created "Toy Story Funday Football" that streamed on ESPN-plus and Disney-plus. The production was recognized with three awards:
Outstanding Studio or Production Design/Art Direction,
The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award
Outstanding Graphic Design – Event/Show
Cellana was called up for the Outstanding Graphic Design award.
She explained that the production was essentially a live broadcast of a football game between Jacksonville and Atlanta played out live through Toy Story-themed animations.
"It was live one for one. So you could either go on ESPN and watch the live game with the humans or you could go on Disney-plus and watch these little animated characters doing the exact same thing," she said.
She said the ESPN team worked alongside Epic Games and Pixar for a few months to develop the one-of-a-kind project that utilized cutting-edge technology. She said they started working on "Toy Story Funday Football" in July 2023 and the game aired in October.
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