Baystate Health specialist part of team working to identify inequities, assist most vulnerable
Updated May 10, 2021;
SPRINGFIELD Dr. Paul Pirraglia, a Baystate Health internal medicine and public health specialist, has been part of a group meeting remotely since last March to identify those whose economic and social resources made them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19
The group includes other Baystate representatives, as well as members from the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts and Caring Health Center, and plans to continue its work even as COVID-19 cases have dropped regionally and across the state along with hospitalizations and deaths from complications of the respiratory disease.
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As virus activity continues to decline in Massachusetts and more COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, Springfield lags behind.
Springfield is one of just 13 municipalities in Massachusetts that remain at high risk for coronavirus infection. Along with Chicopee these are the only two places in western Massachusetts that show up as red on the state health department’s map, which is updated weekly and is based on COVID-19 incidence and test positivity rates.
There are encouraging signs however in the latest data, said the city’s Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris. Springfield recorded 265 confirmed COVID-19 cases for the week of May 2nd – down by 160 from the week before. The city has seen new case totals decline for three straight weeks.
Neighbors: A reporter bids ‘so long’
Reporter Anita Fritz works inside Greenfield City Hall in 2015. Fritz is moving on to a public relations position with Baystate Health. Staff File Photo/Micky Bedell
Reporter Anita Fritz outside Greenfield City Hall in 2015. Fritz is moving on to a public relations position with Baystate Health. Staff File Photo/Micky Bedell
Reporter Anita Fritz works inside Greenfield City Hall in 2015. Fritz is moving on to a public relations position with Baystate Health. Staff File Photo/Micky Bedell
FRITZ
Good morning, neighbor.
I have enjoyed nothing more than being a reporter for the Greenfield Recorder for the past 19 years. I got to talk with NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, who lives in Shelburne Falls with her family, while she circled Earth from the International Space Station. I got to interview actress, director, producer, politician and former Screen Actors Guild President Melissa Gilbert, as well as magician, actor, musician, inventor, a
New COVID cases in Springfield drop 37%, but city still in red
Updated May 10, 2021;
Posted May 10, 2021
Springfield Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris. seen in file photo, was among officials praising improving trends for COVID-19 in the city. (Don Treeger / The Republican)
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SPRINGFIELD City and health officials said Monday the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped by 37.6% last week among residents, but Springfield continued to be among communities in Massachusetts deemed at highest risk of transmission.
There were 265 new coronavirus infections reported among resident last week, May 2-8, as compared to 425 cases the week before (April 23 to May 1), a reduction of 160 cases in one week.