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.

ServiceNet Cuts Ribbon on Vocational Farm to 'Sow Seeds of Hope'

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:30AM / Saturday, May 18, 2024

Lori Carnute plants flowers at the farm and enjoys seeing her friends. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Smiles were all around as farmers, human service workers, and officials cut the ribbon Friday on ServiceNet's new vocational farm on Crane Avenue.

Whether it is planting flowers or growing fresh produce, the program is for "sowing seeds of hope" for those with developmental disabilities.

"What Prospect Meadow Farm is about is changing lives," Vice President of Vocational Services Shawn Robinson said.

"Giving people something meaningful to do, a community to belong to, a place to go every day and to make a paycheck, and again, I am seeing that every day from our first 17 farmhands the smiles on their faces. They're glad to be here. They're glad to be making money."

Prospect Meadow Farm Berkshires held a launch event on Friday with tours, music, snacks, and a ribbon cutting in front of its tomato greenhouse. The nonprofit human service agency closed on the former Jodi's Seasonal on Crane Avenue earlier this year.  

It is an expansion of ServiceNet's first farm in Hatfield that has provided meaningful agricultural work, fair wages, and personal and professional growth to hundreds of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities since opening in 2011.

Eventually, the farm will employ 50 individuals with developmental disabilities year-round and another 20 to 25 local folks supporting their work.

The pay is a great aspect for Billy Baker, who is learning valuable skills for future employment doing various tasks around the farm. He has known some of the ServiceNet community for over a decade.

"I just go wherever they need me to help," he said. "I'm more of a hands-on person."