Pittsfield Now in Yellow COVID-19 Incidence Rate
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is has reached the yellow incidence rate for COVID-19 transmission after spending months in the red zone.
On Friday, the positivity rate dipped to 4.7 percent. To be in the yellow zone, a community must have ten or fewer average cases per 100,000 people or have a five percent or less positivity rate.
Pittsfield isn't there yet with the cases per 100,000, as there were 26.2 cases per 100,000 on that day.
About 52 people are estimated to be actively contagious and on Friday there were seven new cases. This is a stark contrast from mid-January when the positivity rate was 18.6 percent and the daily cases per 100,000 were 281.5.
There is only one patient in Berkshire Medical Center for the virus and the 14-day average for vaccinated to unvaccinated hospitalizations shows that about 75 percent are unvaccinated.
Some 87 percent of residents have received at least one dose and 76 percent are fully vaccinated.
On Friday, Superintendent Joseph Curtis announced that mask wearing is now optional in Pittsfield Public Schools. Earlier in the month, he stated the mask mandate would be lifted in the first or second week of March.
Last month, the Board of Health voted to move the city's masking directive implemented in November to a masking advisory.
Cases began surging in November and the city entered the red zone late that month. Early that month, the Board of Health voted to implement a mask directive stating that masks should be worn in all publicly accessible indoor spaces in the city unless seated at a table eating food or drink.
When the mask directive was moved to an advisory, Director of Public Health Andy Cambi stated that Pittsfield would likely reach the 5 percent positivity rate threshold within a few weeks.
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