An apparent discrepancy has emerged in the public reporting of coronavirus cases at two long-term care facilities in Lee. In a report dated Dec. 18, Next Step Healthcare â the facilitiesâ parent company â listed two cases at Lee Healthcare and one at The Landing at Laurel Lake.
The stateâs Dec. 18 daily report listed between one and four cases among Lee Healthcare residents but no cases among residents or staff for The Landing at Laurel Lake. Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 state reports said there were no cases among residents or staff at either facility. The stateâs website says the reports feature data from the previous day.
BY THE NUMBERS: Berkshire Countyâs death toll rose by one on Monday to 120. The confirmed COVID-19 case count climbed 37 to 2,482, the state Department of Public Health said.
The DPH said 41 new deaths were reported in Massachusetts, pushing the statewide total to 11,506. Deaths including those listed as probably caused by COVID-19 is 11,759. Confirmed cases rose 3,760 to 314,850. The stateâs surge in cases is made clear by this statistic: More than one-tenth of the total number of confirmed cases to date in Massachusetts were confirmed in just the last week.
According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, 206,843 people in Massachusetts with COVID-19 have recovered.
PITTSFIELD â More than 1,000 health care workers have been vaccinated across the county, as Berkshire Health Systems speeds through its first allocated doses.
The hospital system plans to finish its first shipment by the end of day Wednesday, just one week after the vaccine arrived, according to spokesperson Michael Leary.
Hospital officials do not know when its second shipment will arrive and whether BHS might be impacted by Gov. Charlie Bakerâs announcement that the state will receive 20 percent fewer doses from the federal government than expected. Leary said it also is unclear whether the second shipment will contain the Pfizer vaccine or the newly approved Moderna vaccine.
PITTSFIELD â More than 1,000 health care workers have been vaccinated across the county, as Berkshire Health Systems speeds through its first allocated doses.
The hospital system plans to finish its first shipment by the end of day Wednesday, just one week after the vaccine arrived, according to spokesperson Michael Leary.
Hospital officials do not know when its second shipment will arrive and whether BHS might be impacted by Gov. Charlie Bakerâs announcement that the state will receive 20 percent fewer doses from the federal government than expected. Leary said it also is unclear whether the second shipment will contain the Pfizer vaccine or the newly approved Moderna vaccine.
HILLCREST DEATHS: The number of residents killed by the coronavirus inside the Hillcrest Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center has hit 40. Lisa Gaudet, a spokeswoman for the centerâs owner, Berkshire Healthcare Systems, said that as of Friday, Hillcrest had lost 40 residents. It reports that 15 residents are positive, with 106 resident having recovered. Of staff, 18 are positive and 59 have recovered.
At Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center in Lenox, also owned by Berkshire Healthcare, 15 residents have died. As of Friday, 14 residents were positive for COVID-19 and 24 had recovered, according to Gaudet. Seven staff at Kimball Farms are positive and eight have recovered.
Meantime, cases have been rising at Williamstown Commons, which saw 24 deaths last spring. As of Friday, that nursing center had 22 active cases among residents and one among staff. No one has died of the disease there amid the recent surge in cases.