COVID-19 Cases Climbing

06:08PM / Friday, August 25, 2023Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — COVID-19 has been making a resurgence around the state.

There were more than 2,000 new cases in Massachusetts in the past seven days and University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester is mandating employees mask around patients after a jump in COVID-19 positive employees.

iBekshire stopped posting weekly updates on the virus back in March. That last post had the number of positives reported statewide that week as 2,612, a number that had continued to decline along with hospitalizations.

The state interactive dashboard shows higher positive numbers in the eastern part of the state, particularly Middlesex County. Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and the islands have the lowest numbers.

Confirmed positives had declined to 54 statewide for the first week in July.

The number of positive testing patients hit a low of 98 in July and has now climbed to about 300. About a third of those were being treated primarily for the novel coronavirus and about two-thirds of the total were fully vaccinated.

Berkshire Health Systems is no longer posting the number of positive patients in its facilities. Integritus Healthcare (formerly Berkshire Healthcare) is reporting one patient case and four employee cases at a Holyoke facility.

Nationally, the number of positives is also trending up with hospital admissions up almost 22 percent the second week of August (the most recent reporting). Total hospitalizations to date is 6,256,971.

Deaths, through Aug. 19, were up more than 21 percent and the national total is now 1,138,602.

Of the 91 new cases reported in Berkshire County in the past two weeks, 42 were in Pittsfield. The next highest was seven each in North Adams and Lenox.

The county's 14-day positivity rate is fairly low for the state at 6.49 percent; the state's seven-day rate is 10.83 percent.

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NBSU Committee Open to Discussing Apportionment Changes

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:12AM / Friday, January 16, 2026

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Clarksburg's partners in the North Berkshire School Union agreed to take a look at the assessment structure for the union's administration and the union agreement.

Town and school officials have questioned Clarksburg's share of administration costs, which is now more than 50 percent.

Select Board Chair Daniel Haskins presented the "super" NBSU School Committee last week with a proposal of a base contribution of 10 percent for each district except for Monroe, which would be 5 percent, and then a ratio based on enrollment.

"Over my four years on the Select Board, I've observed a steady increase in presented percentage that Clarksburg contributes to the North Berkshire School Union as our student enrollment has grown," he said. "The reason behind this proposed adjustment is straightforward: The North Berkshire School Union provides services for all member towns. These include oversight of the principals, management of school facilities, food services and special education programs."

He also pointed to the state reporting and reviews, preparation of school budgets, and meeting attendance.

"For example, the union is not attending five times as many school committee meetings for Clarksburg as it is for Savoy, nor is it overseeing three additional principals for Florida," he said. "While I fully acknowledge that the NBSU staff does spend more time on Clarksburg-related matters than those of the smaller towns, it is worth asking whether the current ratios accurately reflect the difference."

The five towns of Clarksburg, Florida, Monroe, Rowe and Savoy share the services of central office that includes the superintendent, assistant/special education director, information technology director, business administrator, support staff, supplies and rent and utilities for the space in North Adams.

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