Editor’s note: The following Tri-Town Health Department update was written by Amy Hardt, MPH BSN RN, Lead Public Health Nurse at the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative, and sent out Monday, Feb. 28. It has been edited for clarity.
We continue to see newly confirmed COVID-19 case numbers plummet across the Northeast, Massachusetts, and Berkshire County. Thankfully, the major slowdown in this trend that we saw a couple weeks ago in Southern Berkshire towns did turn out to be a blip. In Berkshire County overall, we are now back down to our Halloween numbers. In Southern Berkshire, we are much closer to that point but still have a bit to go.
PCR test positivity continues to drop across the board, and it looks like the number of local hospital patients on COVID precautions is now a quarter of what it was over the holidays. We do know that many local families traveled over last week’s February break, and hopefully they are masking and testing themselves this week to be sure they didn’t bring back COVID along with their vacation memories. If we do see a short uptick in local cases over the next couple weeks, it won’t be a surprise.
However, our encouraging case trend fits in well with the CDC’s February 25th rollout of a new metric for County-specific masking recommendations. This metric still includes local PCR case rates but weighs more heavily the amount of medically significant COVID disease in our community (rate of recent hospital admissions that are COVID+) and local hospital strain (percent of beds occupied by COVID patients). County risk is categorized as Low/Green, Medium/Yellow, High/Orange. Berkshire County is currently in the Medium/Yellow category, which means residents need not mask in public indoor spaces, but should test if symptomatic and stay up to date with their COVID vaccines (get a booster if you haven’t already!).
The CDC also recommends at this level that individuals at greater risk for the worst COVID outcomes follow the advice of their health care provider on how to best protect themselves. For those who are immunocompromised and/or unvaccinated, especially if they have comorbidities, a well-fitting and well-filtering mask worn in public indoor spaces would be a wise choice. Folks with high-risk loved ones may choose to continue masking indoors, as well.
The CDC’s current recommendations now align nicely with February 15th guidance from the MA Dept. of Public Health. DPH advises that vaccinated folks may forego masking, but unvaccinated people, those with a weakened immune system (and household members), and those at increased risk for severe disease due to advanced age or comorbidity continue wearing a mask in public indoor spaces. MA DPH also still has a minimum 5-day isolation and quarantine guidance in effect. Following this guidance is now more important than ever, with fewer people using masks to reduce community transmission.
While the CDC provides non-binding guidance to the entire U.S., all Massachusetts residents are bound legally to follow any Governor’s public health orders and MA Department of Public Health guidance, unless another state commission or licensing group (Dept. of Education or Dept. of Early Education and Care, etc.) mandates something different. When they do, it’s usually in consultation with MA DPH. Local boards of health, businesses, and other private institutions (churches, schools, private clubs, etc.) have the right to enact policies that are even more strict than MA DPH. At the local board of health level, masking policies may be enforceable (“statutes” or “regulations”), or they may be non-enforceable (“advisories” or “directives”). In Southern Berkshire, there are currently still a few mask advisories and directives in effect. While these will be revisited in upcoming weeks and will likely be revoked if current trends continue, some businesses may continue to require or request masking upon entry, as is their right (similar to “no shirt, no shoes, no service”).
Some folks may be planning parties at this point, but others might need to transition slowly to unmasking indoors and socializing in all the ways we used to. It may take some time to mentally and emotionally catch up, especially for kids who have done such a good job of “following the rules.” They may need parents and school staff to help explain why things are changing and reassure them it is “safe enough” for most people (especially those vaccinated recently, boosted or infected within the past few months) to not wear a mask. For households with someone at high risk for the worst COVID outcomes, it may still be too soon to stop masking in public indoor spaces.
Kids (and adults) need to feel supported in their choices and not have others ask intrusive questions or make assumptions about their political beliefs. And the bottom line for all of us is that we have no way of knowing what may be around the corner with COVID. An ongoing element of anxiety is understandable, since a part of our brain is tasked with holding onto the possibility that at some future point, there may be a need to put our masks back on again.
