Pittsfield Continues to Recover from Holiday COVID Surge
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.
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