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Interim Director of Public Health Andrew Cambi updates the City Council on pandemic numbers on Tuesday night.

Pittsfield 'Not Where We Want to Be' With COVID Cases

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Interim Director of Public Health Andrew Cambi told the City Council on Tuesday that Pittsfield is "holding steady" with COVID-19 cases and "not where we want to be."

He reported a COVID-19 death in the city over the weekend. The age and vaccination status of the person was not identified.

"Unfortunately, we had a death over the weekend," Cambi said. "very unfortunate, condolences to the family and friends to that individual."

To date, there have been 77 deaths in the city.

The community is currently in the yellow incidence rate for having 10 or more cases per 100,000 people and is at a 2.4 percent positivity rate with around 75 estimated actively contagious cases.  

Around July 20, the city began to see a rise in cases and started to plateau in early August.

In response to the rise in cases, the city has been increasing contact tracing efforts and urges residents to cooperate if they are contacted by a Berkshire Health Systems staff about possible exposure.


"I urge the community to continue to work with our contact tracing team by answering the phone calls by giving them a call back," Cambi explained.

"And understand that our contact tracing team is there to work with them and assist with any questions that they might have, and hopefully we can collaborate together with our residents to get the information to everybody."

He said the only upward trend that he likes to see is vaccinations. The city is at a 73 percent vaccination rate for people who have received their first shot and 64 percent for fully vaccinated.

Countywide, around 80 percent of eligible individuals have received their first shot and around 70 percent are fully vaccinated.

Early this month, former Director of Public Health Gina Armstrong announced her resignation effective Sept. 10. She cited a need for more balance in her life and to spend more time with her family.

The Board of Health unanimously appointed Cambi, the former senior sanitarian, as interim director of public health and a search for a permanent replacement for Armstrong is being led by Director of Human Resources Michael Taylor.


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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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