PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems' three COVID-19 testing centers are now open as part of the state's Stop the Spread Program for free community testing.
Access to COVID-19 testing, either through the Stop the Spread program or for symptomatic testing, is by appointment only. Individuals MUST call the BHS COVID-19 Hotline, 855-BMC-LINK, or 855-262-5465, which is available daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced on Monday the addition of three Berkshire County sites to the program. The commonwealth will be supporting free COVID-19 testing in 25 communities — up from eight when the state announced its Stop the Spread testing initiative in July.
Stop the Spread is a cost-free surveillance testing for individuals who are asymptomatic and want to be tested for COVID-19.
The announcement comes at a time when the state is well into its "second surge" of COVID-19 cases and was paired with an announcement that, effective Friday, hospitals across the commonwealth will be cutting back on elective, in-patient procedures.
Stop the Spread is aimed to provide expanded testing in communities where positive test rates are above the state average and testing volume has fallen off. Berkshire County has seen a dramatic increase in cases since the beginning of November, though still below the state average that has continued to climb.
BHS set up the first testing center outside Berkshire Medical Center and added two more testing centers — one in Great Barrington and one in North Adams — over the summer. They have largely been used for screening patients.
The centers will continue to operate as the primary community testing sites for Berkshire Health Systems and have expanded hours to accommodate an estimated additional 1,000 tests per week countywide.
Testing will also continue to be conducted at the three centers for those who symptomatic or had close contact with someone who has tested COVID-19 positive, the cost of which will be covered by the individual’s insurer.
Stop the Spread provides for free and expanded community testing for anyone who qualifies under the state program. A similar program was operated in the spring for anyone who had attended the large protests that occurred after the killing of George Floyd in police custody.
Two of the three BHS Testing Centers are located in an indoor setting, with the third moving indoors on Dec. 17. The centers are located in:
Pittsfield: 505 East St., St Luke's Square, adjacent to BHS Urgent Care; open daily from 8:30 to 4.
North Adams: 98 Church St., next to the North Adams Library; open daily from 8:30 to 4.
Great Barrington: Drive-thru tent at 10 Maple Ave. until Thursday, Dec. 17; open daily from 8 to noon
Great Barrington: Opens Dec. 17 at 475 Main St., next to the Police Department; open daily from 8 to noon.
All centers will be closed on Christmas and New Year's Day.
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Main & Mill: A Vibrant New Restaurant on Main Street
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can now enjoy another eatery on Main Street by well-known restaurant siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor.
Their restaurant Main & Mill opened for the first time Tuesday, bringing their vision of creating something vibrant and new to downtown North Adams.
"We have created Main & Mill to be part of our day. It's very seasonal ingredients, thoughtful cooking, beauty, beautiful presentation and dishes. And we really wanted to be part of the community, the downtown area, and start a vibrant area on this end, which has been shuttered for a while," said Colleen.
The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry of Latent.
The bank closed in early 2021 and was purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar.
Colleen saw potential and said she initially wanted the building when it first went up for sale. Being good friends with Rothstein and Perry, she helped them design the kitchen and the bar before learning in March that she could lease it as a restaurant space, something she told them would be a great idea.
She said one of the most important things about the restaurant was the collaboration between Rothstein, Perry, and the Wadsworths, who put a lot of time and energy into the building.
"If Sean and I had done it, we would not be able to do what the collaboration supported. The collaboration of the three of us being able to really have that kind of money to put in down here. The design that the architecture firm that Carla and Sal own is stunning," she said. "The time and effort, everyone came together to do this in a really trusting manner."
The two wanted the restaurant to be an all-day venture, so people could eat at any point throughout the day, all week long.
"We wanted it to be open for coffee and socialization in the morning where people can meet, have their cup of coffee, have a quiche, a vegetarian quiche, or croissant or yogurt. Something intentional with their coffee," she said. "Then move into a lunchtime for the downtown business or anybody, and then go into supper, dinner, with drinks later into the evening. So have it really be open all day long, so that there wasn't a void on any particular day."
They also wanted to do something different than the other restaurants they owned.
"We didn't want to mimic any other restaurant in town. We wanted to bring something that was inspiring, something that had some familiar things that people would see, and other things that we would bring to them for them to experience," she said.
As a woman business owner, Colleen said she wanted to bring a female chef into the kitchen.
Colleen brought on Chef Anna DeRose, who she said puts twists on a lot of her dishes.
"So we have a creme brulee, but our creme brulee is topped with marshmallow," she said. "Our creme brulee is like almost two desserts in one. It's a s'mores creme brulee. So you could have a s'mores, and you could have a creme brulee - but when you put both of them together, fireworks go off."
Jake Eberwein showed the committee sections of the nbess.org website, including the resources page, which will be key to keeping residents informed about the study’s findings and collecting information from those residents. click for more
The planes were paper, the buildings cardboard and Main Street was a hallway at Colegrove Park Elementary School, but the setup represented nearly two weeks of creative research and design by the pupils in the public schools' 21st Century Summer Program.
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