WESTHAMPTON — In this week’s town-by-town COVID-19 report, the state Department of Public Health designated Westhampton as one of eight communities — and the only one in western Massachusetts — that is at higher risk for the disease, based on weighted average daily case rates over a previous two-week period.
According to the report, which was released Wednesday, the town of Westhampton was given a “red” designation on a DPH tracking map after the town reported an average daily case rate of more than eight COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people over a previous two-week period — the threshold at which a community is deemed at “higher risk” for the coronavirus.
In this report, Westhampton — population 1,607 in the 2010 census — had an average daily case rate of 21 per 100,000 residents, adding five new cases of COVID-19 during the two-week period from Aug. 16-29. The town has seen a cumulative 10 cases of the coronavirus since the beginning of this year.
Two weeks ago, South Hadley was designated by the state as being at higher risk for the coronavirus. The town’s designation dropped to “yellow” last week, or moderate risk, as it had an average daily case rate of four to eight cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people over a previous two-week period. This week, South Hadley dropped to the lower risk “green” as it had fewer than four cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people over a previous two-week period. Communities colored “gray” reported less than five cases.
Mark Bushee, health agent with the Foothills Health District, which covers Goshen, Williamsburg, Whately and Westhampton, said that of the new COVID-19 cases reported in Westhampton, two cases were linked and another three cases were also connected. He said public health officials do not know where the infected people may have contracted the disease.
Bushee said that contact tracing on these new cases has been completed, and that those who have been contacted are staying home. He said that people should absolutely stay vigilant about COVID-19, but added that the likelihood of exposure in Westhampton due to these new cases is low as public health officials believe they have been contained.
Bushee said that for a small town like Westhampton, which has a population of about 1,600 people, the way the state weighs this new metric — per 100,000 people — means that numbers will likely be skewed whenever there are new cases.
“I understand the intent behind it, but it doesn’t fit very well for probably a majority of Massachusetts,” Bushee said. “There are a lot of small towns that can very easily be put into this category.”
He said that about half of the people who recently contracted COVID-19 have recovered. He said that he doesn’t expect Westhampton to stay in the “red” for very long, but suspects it will take a week or so to drop off due to the way the figures are calculated. The last new case in Westhampton was sometime last week, according to Bushee.
Bushee said that people should continue to wash their hands, wear face masks and practice social distancing.
Amherst has been designated as a “green” community on this week’s DPH tracking map for having an average daily case rate of 3.5 per 100,000 people over the previous two-week period. Also “green” is Northampton with an average daily case rate of 1.7 per 100,000 people and South Hadley with 3.6 per 100,000 people.
Communities with a “yellow,” or moderate risk designation in the area this week are Easthampton with an average daily case rate of 5.7 per 100,000 people over a previous two-week period; Hadley with an average daily case rate of 6.2 per 100,000 people and Holyoke with an average daily case rate of 4.5 per 100,000 people.
According to the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts as of Wednesday, a total of 76 new cases were reported in Hampshire County between Aug. 16 and Aug. 29 — compared to 64 new cases reported between Aug. 9 and Aug. 22. There have been a cumulative 1,176 cases reported in the county, according to the group.
The Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts also reported that the average daily case rate per 100,000 people in Hampshire County is at 3.3 for this most recent two-week period, compared to Massachusetts’ average of 4.2. The county’s average daily case rate is up from 2.8 per 100,000 people in the county during the prior two-week period.
In Massachusetts as of Wednesday, there have been 119,426 confirmed cases of COVID-19 this year, according to the state DPH. Among confirmed coronavirus cases in Massachusetts, a total of 8,853 people have died.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, a total of 288,357 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States over the past seven days. Over the course of the pandemic, there have been 6,087,403 cases of the coronavirus in the United States and 185,092 deaths, according to the CDC.
As of Thursday afternoon, 26.1 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University. There have also been 864,907 deaths, the university reported.
According to the state DPH on Sept. 2, in Hampshire County, Northampton had a cumulative total of 320 confirmed COVID-19 cases, down from 321 on Aug. 26; South Hadley had 211, up from 209; Belchertown had 131, up from 129; Amherst had 139, up from 126; Easthampton had 122, up from 116; Hadley had 50, up from 48; Southampton had 36, up from 33; Granby had 44, up from 42; Hatfield 21, no increase; Huntington 16, up from 15; Williamsburg 17, up from 15; Westhampton 10, up from seven; Goshen five, no increase; and Chesterfield at five, down from six.
Plainfield, Cummington and Pelham once again reported fewer than five cases, while Worthington and Middlefield have stayed at zero cases.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.