Pittsfield, Massachusetts Mayor Linda Tyer delivered her 2021 state of the city address today.
Tyer acknowledged a grim and challenging 2020, citing the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn it triggered.
“From the beginning of the pandemic through January 29, there have been 2,201 confirmed cases in Pittsfield, said the mayor. 59,643 tests have been administered. And sadly 49 Pittsfielders have passed away. Today, with cautious optimism, I can report that the public health data is beginning to look promising. The 14-day positivity rate is 3.5%, which takes Pittsfield out of the red category and into the yellow category. Data from recent sewage testing used to detect virus concentration in wastewater further supports a potential downward trend.”
As of Wednesday, the Springside Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center had seen a total of 127 positive tests for COVID-19 to date, up from 109 on Monday. BEN GARVER â THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
PITTSFIELD â More than 109 residents and staff have contracted COVID-19 inside a single Pittsfield nursing home. Cases accelerated in the past week, even as vaccinations began, with the National Guard now on the scene.
The Springside Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center, at 255 Lebanon Ave., owned by BaneCare, says in its latest report that 72 residents and 37 staff have tested positive for the disease to date, with 52 active cases among residents and 27 among staff.
“Our next facility after that will be Mount Greylock on the 2nd of January, followed by Williamstown Commons on the 4th, and then we have North Adams and Hillcrest Commons on the 8th, she said.
At the county’s largest hospital – Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield – nurses feuded with management over mask policy, with RNs like Mark Brodeur insisting the company supply all frontline workers with the then-scarce N95 masks as potential COVID-19 exposures ran rampant through the staff.
“Since a patient could have been exposed and shedding the virus without any symptoms, at this point in order to reduce the spread it’s important to assume that every single patient you have contact with has the coronavirus in order just to flatten that curve and ensure that the spread is slowed down as much as possible so that all of our resources aren’t overwhelmed at one time,” he told WAMC.
With this daily feature, The Eagle runs down breaking local developments in the coronavirus crisis.
BY THE NUMBERS: One new COVID-19 death in Berkshire County brought the total to 132, with the confirmed case count up 54, to 2,787, the state Department of Public Health said.
The DPH said 58 new deaths were reported in Massachusetts over the period, pushing the statewide total to 11,958. Deaths including those listed as probably caused by COVID-19 are 12,218. Confirmed cases rose 3,659, to 346,423. According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, at least 229,910 people in Massachusetts with COVID-19 have recovered.
NUMBER OF ACTIVE CASES: 78,215 statewide.
POSITIVITY RATE RISING: The DPH report shows an upward trend in positivity rates of molecular COVID-19 tests in Massachusetts.