20 Cities In Mass. Now ‘High Risk’ For COVID-19; Cases Going Up In The Berkshires

Cases of COVID-19 have dropped drastically since the holiday spike and vaccinations are ramping up across The Commonwealth; however, Pittsfield and The Berkshires are seeing cases ramp back up and experts are concerned.

Berkshire Medical Center issued the following statement within the last two days.

"Our Berkshire community is experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases, with the positivity rate tripling the past week. We all need to work together to help stop the surge.

Keep masking, maintain your social distancing, and if you feel you were at risk for contracting the virus, get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms. Until and after it’s your turn to get vaccinated, help keep our community safe from COVID-19. The state’s Stop The Spread free testing continues county-wide and is easy to schedule. To schedule, call our hotline at 855-262-5465."

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BMC's Coronavirus Information Kiosk shows a positivity percentage rate of 3.7% as of Thursday. It was just 1.4% just early last week.

The City of Pittsfield COVID-19 dashboard below shows a change from GREEN status to YELLOW just yesterday as the average number of cases has risen above ten a day.

Slater spoke with Mayor Linda M.Tyer on Friday about the uptick in cases.

We are discouraged by the increase in COVID cases over the last five days. The city's public health nurses are busy with contact tracing to identify possible clusters and to determine if this is community spread. This highlights how critical it is that we all adhere to safety precautions - mask up, keep your distance, stay in your family pod, avoid gatherings, and get vaccinated. STAY IN THE FIGHT. -Mayor Linda Tyer.

20 cities in Massachusetts are now considered "high risk" for coronavirus, according to bostonherald.com.

The red-zone municipalities this week are: Barnstable, Chicopee, Dighton, Douglas, Fall River, Freetown, Hanson, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Millis, Plymouth, Revere, Rutland, Southwick, Sterling, Sutton, West Bridgewater and Yarmouth.