Pittsfield COVID Rates Remain Low for Thanksgiving

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city for the most part remains on the downward trend from two fall COVID-19 surges as the region enters the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Last week, Director of Public Health Andy Cambi reported to the City Council that Pittsfield is recovering from two fall surges.  He did remind the panel of last year's holiday surge that pushed the city into the red zone and said residents should always be thinking about protecting themselves.

Because other metrics don't include at-home tests, Cambi has indicated that the city's Biobot sewage testing is the truest way to gauge the virus's impact on the community.

The city on Sunday showed a virus concentration of 699,000 copies per liter, which is higher than last week’s concentration of 507,000 copies per liter but lower than the 2.7 million copies per liter that the city showed in mid-October.

Starting the week, there were 15 daily cases per 100,000, down from 15.9 last week and only five new cases reported.

Other metrics have seen a slight increase but remain much lower than the rates in October.


The percent positivity rate of 6.4 has increased from 5.6 percent last week as well as the estimated actively contagious cases, which have increased from 30 to 42.  

Both remain significantly lower than last month when positivity rates were about 10 percent and case counts were around 100.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has provided schools with free tests for students and staff to bring home over the weekend. They are being asked to test on Sunday in hopes of avoiding any post-holiday surges. 

The city remains in the "red zone" for transmission, having more than 10 cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate above five percent. It has essentially remained in this category since last year with some reprieve in the spring that put the city in the lesser "yellow zone."

Next week marks the return of the in-person tree lighting, which was not able to happen in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic. Last month also saw the return of the city's Halloween parade.


Tags: COVID-19,   


More Coronavirus Updates

Keep up to date on the latest COVID-19 news:


If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield Council to See $216M FY25 Budget, Up 5%

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayor Peter Marchetti has proposed a $216 million budget for fiscal year 2025, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Budget season will kick off on Monday with a special meeting of the City Council containing several financial items, one being an order to raise and appropriate $216,155,210 for the city's operating budget. This begins the council's process of departmental spending deliberations with a budget adoption before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.

This is about a $10 million hike from FY24's $205,584,497 budget.

Early in the term, the council supported a divisive petition requesting a budget that is "close to level-funded" due to concerns about tax increases. This would come with cuts to employment and city services, Marchetti warned, but said the administration was working to create a proposal that is "between level funded and a level service funded."

When the School Committee OK'd a $82.8 million spending plan, he revealed that the administration "couldn't get to a level service funded budget."

The Pittsfield Police Department budget is proposed to rise 4 percent from $14,364,673 in FY24 to $14,998,410, an increase of about $614,000. A 2.5 percent increase is proposed for the Department of Public Services, rising about $287,000 from $11,095,563 in FY24 to $11,382,122.

Marchetti also submitted a Five Year Capital Improvement Plan for fiscal years 2025-2029 that he called a "roadmap for the future."

A public hearing is planned for May 13.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories