BOSTON — People in Western Massachusetts, and the Berkshires in particular, frequently complain the region is being ignored by a state government headquartered at the other end of the commonwealth.
On Wednesday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced a new program that will impact eight municipalities — none west of I-495.
But this is not the kind of list any town or city wants to make.
Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito used their daily press briefing to announce that the commonwealth will offer targeted free COVID-19 testing sites in Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Marlborough, and New Bedford.
All residents of those communities will be able to be tested for the novel coronavirus whether or not they have symptoms of COVID-19.
"We're launching this program in eight specific communities, where the prevalence of COVID-19 is above the statewide average and we've seen a decrease in testing since mid-April," Baker said. "The goal of this initiative is to provide widespread asymptomatic testing in an easy-to-access location within these communities."
The targeted testing program will begin on Friday and run through the middle of August, Baker said.
In his back-and-forth with the press at Wednesday's event, Baker was asked whether he planned to expand the targeted testing to Western Mass.
"If folks in Western Massachusetts start to have issues, absolutely," he said. "Western Mass was one of the first parts of Massachusetts that actually showed significant outbreaks, and then Western Mass got very low — low enough that I can remember at one point in time you asking me why we weren't opening up their economy before we opened other people's economies."
At one point, a testing site for frontline workers in all of Western Mass was set up at the Big E Fairgrounds in Springfield; the Berkshire has had two testing sites, both in Pittsfield.
The western third of the commonwealth overcame its early spikes and currently has numbers more in line with the state averages, which as of Wednesday included a weighted seven-day positive test rate of 2 percent, down from 4.2 percent as recently as June 8 and down 93 percent from mid-April.
As of Wednesday, Massachusetts has seen 8,028 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 104,961 confirmed cases. On Tuesday, the commonwealth reported 7,200 molecular tests, bringing its total to 1,157,023, Baker said.
But testing rates are down by 40 percent since the end of April in Chelsea and the other towns in line for the targeted testing program.
"Collectively, these communities make up approximately 9 percent of the Massachusetts population but have seen 27 percent of the commonwealth's positive tests in the past two weeks," he said. "The statewide positive test rate over the past two weeks, as I said before, is a little under 2 percent, but in these eight communities, 8 percent of the tests have been positive. That includes some individuals who have had multiple positive tests."
The Berkshires and Western Mass?
"They have continued to stay very low," Baker said. "I think the point I would make on this is we picked these [eight] places because they had a higher positive test rate than other places in Massachusetts and lower tests than they were actually getting — by a significant amount — back in April.
"If we start to see movement in any of these places, we'll make adjustments. That's part of what this program is all about."
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
WCMA Community Forum on New Museum Building Project
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) invites the community to a forum to learn more about the new museum building project at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.
The forum, which will be held in the Williams Inn Ballroom, will kick off the WCMA building project construction phase, slated to begin this fall. Learn about the project schedule and expectations, review updated designs, and hear from our landscape architect, Reed Hildebrand, for a special landscape design presentation.
The new Williams College Museum of Art is conceived to serve the college, the local community and visitors to the Berkshires.
According to a press release, the new museum will be a space designed with students in mind, fostering a sense of belonging for campus members and the wider community, and an inclusive experience for all visitors. The building will offer substantial gallery space for showing more of the 15,000 works in the museum’s collection, as well as facilities for easy access to collections for student, faculty, and visiting scholar requests, and more object study classrooms.
The Conservation Commission on Thursday reviewed a refined version of the site plan for a planned four-home subdivision off Summer Street. click for more
Milne Trustees vice chair Jared Della Rocca appeared before the Select Board on Tuesday to detail some of the new initiatives that expand both the library’s mission and its access to the community. click for more
After more than two hours of discussion, the board voted 3-1 to select Neely after two rounds of voting where the four remaining elected officials were deadlocked, 2-2, on how to replace Andrew Hogeland until May’s election.
click for more
West Dews ran for 137 yards, Landon Corcoran made big plays down the stretch and the Wahconah defense made the biggest stop of the night to stymie a comeback drive in the closing minutes of a 22-18 win over rival Hoosac Valley on Friday night.
click for more
A three-term member of the board, a teacher at Mount Greylock Regional School and a town native have stepped forward to fill an interim position on the Select Board. click for more