Pittsfield Continues to Recover from Holiday COVID Surge

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is seeing a slight increase in COVID-19 cases from last week but metrics are still much lower than the height of the holiday surge.

As of Sunday, the percent positivity rate was 8.6 percent, up from 7.7 on Feb. 24, and the average case rate is 48.4 cases per 100,000 people, up from 45.8 on February 24.

There were 10 new cases reported Sunday and about 60 actively contagious cases in Pittsfield. Seven people were hospitalized at Berkshire Medical Center with the virus, 75 percent of them being unvaccinated.

Around mid-January, the cases were a staggering 18.6 percent and the daily cases per 100,000 were 281.5.

The city remains in the red incidence rate for transmission but at last week's Board of Health meeting, Director of Public Health Andy Cambi revealed that the way things are going, the city will likely reach the 5 percent positivity rate threshold within the next few weeks.  

A 5 percent or lower positivity rate will push the city into the yellow incidence rate.

With updated guidance from the state, the city has changed its mask policy and the schools will either lift the mask mandate in the second or third week of March.


Last week, the Board of Health voted to move the city's masking directive implemented in November to a masking advisory.

The advisory will match the state Department of Public Health's guidance that was updated on Feb. 15.  It suggests that a fully vaccinated person should wear a mask indoors if they have a weakened immune system, are at increased risk for severe disease because of age or an underlying medical condition, or if someone in the household has a weakened immune, increased risk, or is unvaccinated.

Superintendent Joseph Curtis also released a timeline to transition out of masking that he said is a compromise of conversations with the community and polling data.

There are two possible dates for the requirement to lift, based on case numbers when students return to school next week:

If all schools remain open with safe staffing levels and COVID-19 case counts don't rise above previously documented counts between Feb. 28 and March 4, the mandate will be lifted on Monday, March 7.

If schools have to close due to inadequate staffing levels or rising case counts between Feb. 28 and March 4, the lifting will be delayed until Monday, March 14.


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.

Companion Corner: Fox at Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a sweet and energetic dog at the Berkshire Humane Society waiting for his new family.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

Fox is a 3-year-old Pomeranian who has been at the shelter for about a month.

Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Fox. 

"He's a bundle of joy. He would love a family who's home with him a lot, because he's just, he's very social and wants to be with his people a lot. And he would be fun to bring out and about, bring a lot of places, because he's very happy to go anywhere," she said.

When Fox enters the room he is immediately a puffball of energy that goes around and around the room.

He came to the shelter after his former owner could not take care of him anymore. 

"The owner was just not able to care for him anymore. Had he came in with another dog, Wolf, and she already did find her forever home just last week," said Olivieri. "The two of them were left with a friend of the original owner, and the owner did not come back to pick them up, and the friend had too many animals in the house, and too much going on, and she just couldn't continue to look after them, so they did end up coming to us."

Fox can go home with cats and children but is not recommended to go home with other dogs as he gets too excited.

"He would love a home where people are home quite a bit to give him all the attention that he so desires. He loves kids. He absolutely adores children. So he would like a home with kids to play with. He could live with cats. We are saying that he should not live with other dogs. The only reason is that he gets very humpy, and he does not leave the other dogs alone," she said.

With his energy it is recommended he goes to a home that can keep him active whether walks or hikes and even fetch in the yard.

Fox does need to learn more about walking on a leash and has a tendency to mark in the house but he was recently neutered. Olivieri said belly bands will be sent home with whoever adopts him to help prevent marking and managing it.

"He would like an active home. He really does like to go for walks daily. He likes to run around in the yard. He does need a little work on leash walking. He sometimes gets a little tangled still under your feet, and he's learning how to walk on a leash," she said. "So, someone who's got some patience and some time to work on some training with him."

"He also is not fully potty trained, so he does know to go potty outside. However, he will still mark, urinate in the house sometimes, and he might poop here and there in the house."

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories