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 Friday, Jan. 14. It has been edited for clarity.
LEE — Below is the most recent 7-day data dashboard, using official data reported for Berkshire County and South County towns from January 2–8.
The good news is that the rapid growth in new cases seems to be slowing down in our area. Hopefully, that will continue as we approach the Omicron peak. While newly reported cases still were higher than the previous week, they increased at a slower rate in both the county overall and in Southern Berkshire towns.
For Berkshire County, last week’s increase in new cases was just 38 percent, compared to the previous week’s increase of 144 percent. In South County, the increase was 54 percent, versus the previous week’s increase of 120 percent. Looking at the test positivity rate (remember, all these numbers refer to confirmed cases from PCR tests only, as taken directly from the weekly state report), we see almost no change in either the county or Southern Berkshire towns as a group. While they’re still much higher than desired, the numbers show a lack of growth, which is excellent news given that PCR testing increased by 25 percent in the county and 50 percent in Southern Berkshire towns over the previous week. So, there have been significantly more PCR tests, with no change in the percent of those with positive results when compared with the previous week. This is a second good indicator of the slowdown in new case growth.
Our fingers are crossed that the trend will continue in this direction. For now, keep wearing the best mask you’ve got, book that vaccine appointment (especially for children) or booster (especially for 12–15 year olds), keep suspecting COVID with any new symptoms, and take advantage of free rapid drive-through testing in Lee and Sheffield while it’s being offered for a couple more weeks. Use this link to schedule an appointment or just drop by. Tuesdays 2-4 p.m. in Lee at the Tri-Town Health Deptartment and Thursdays 8-10 a.m. at the Sheffield Library.
While the false negative rate may be higher than we’d like in the rapid tests due to a variety of factors, we do still have an extremely very low false positive rate with those. So, if you’re past the 5-day isolation period the CDC now recommends and want to return to work but don’t necessarily have to, the rapid test can be a good way to see if your viral load is still high enough to make you infectious. If so, you could decide to stay home longer if that’s doable. If you’re still positive and do need to leave isolation after 5 days, it’s definitely time to wear an N95 or KN95 mask, following CDC and MA DPH guidance.
