Pittsfield Back in 'Yellow Zone' for COVID-19 Transmission

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Following the holiday weekend, the city has dipped into the yellow incidence rate for COVID-19 transmission.

On Tuesday, the percent positivity rate was 4.3, down from 5.3 last week. To be in the yellow zone, a community must have 10 or fewer average cases per 100,000 people or have a 5 percent or less positivity rate.

The average case rate was 29.1 on Tuesday, a metric that has stayed rather steady since mid-June.

The city is still close to the red zone, which is categorized by having equal to or more than 10 average cases per 100,000 and having a five percent or higher positivity rate in a 14-day period.

There are 54 estimated actively contagious cases in the city with 14 new cases on Tuesday. There have been more than 12,000 cases total. 

In mid-May, Pittsfield saw a surge that skyrocketed the percent positivity rate to almost 15 and the average case rate to over 130 cases per 100,000 people. There were more than 370 estimated actively contagious cases. 

There are currently three patients hospitalized at Berkshire Medical Center who have the virus. During the time of the mid-May surge, there were more than 20 hospitalizations.

Though the metrics have decreased, the city's Biobot sewage testing is showing an increase.  This testing is said to predict trends with the virus.


On Sunday, the seven-day average for virus concentration was 732.8 thousand copies per liter.  A couple of weeks ago, the virus concentration was 366.1 thousand copies per liter.

Following the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's approval of vaccination for children under the age of 5, Berkshire Health Systems began to schedule vaccine clinics for infants and toddlers.

On July 9, the BHS testing and vaccine center will provide vaccinations for children under the age of 5 from 8:30 to noon. Each month beginning Saturday, Aug. 6, BHS will have pediatric vaccine clinics in Pittsfield on the first Saturday of the month, serving children under age 5 from 8:30 to noon and children 5 to 11 from 12:30 to 4 p.m.

Berkshire County's seven-day average on Tuesday was 33 and there were 105 new cases. In mid-May, the seven-day average was more than 130.


 


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.

EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories