Several area towns now COVID-19 red zones; deaths at Hadley nursing home
In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, a person is inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine in Pompano Beach, Florida. AP PHOTO/WILFREDO LEE
Modified: 1/8/2021 2:59:00 PM
NORTHAMPTON Several area communities are now COVID-19 hotspots in the latest weekly report issued by the state Department of Public Health.
Though Hampshire County’s two largest communities, Northampton and Amherst, are in the yellow, or caution zone, in part because their positivity rates are below 5%, Easthampton, South Hadley, Hadley, Belchertown, and Southampton are all labeled red, along with Holyoke, according to the dashboard.
For the smaller communities, the status comes by having more than 25 new COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks, and for the larger towns it is due to having more than 10 cases per 100,000 residents and a positivity rate exceeding 5%.
COVID risk rises in county
Testing rate per 100,000 people by city and town from Dec. 13 to Dec. 26. MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Modified: 1/1/2021 5:41:58 PM
NORTHAMPTON Several Hampshire County communities and Holyoke are considered at higher risk for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health’s weekly update released Thursday.
Cities and towns that remained in the “red” category from the previous week are Hadley, Holyoke, Southampton, and Granby. South Hadley was labeled red and moved up from being in the “yellow” category last week.
For communities with fewer than 10,000 residents, red signifies more than 25 cases in a two-week period. For municipalities that have between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, it means there is an average daily incidence rate of 10 or more cases and the positive test rate is 5% or greater.