NORTHAMPTON — Several Hampshire County communities and Holyoke are considered at higher risk for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health’s weekly update released Thursday.
Cities and towns that remained in the “red” category from the previous week are Hadley, Holyoke, Southampton, and Granby. South Hadley was labeled red and moved up from being in the “yellow” category last week.
For communities with fewer than 10,000 residents, red signifies more than 25 cases in a two-week period. For municipalities that have between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, it means there is an average daily incidence rate of 10 or more cases and the positive test rate is 5% or greater.
Cities and towns in “yellow” include Northampton with an average daily incidence rate of 21 per 100,000 residents over last 14 days, Easthampton (28.2), Amherst (19.7), and Belchertown (32.5), while towns in “green” include Hatfield (24.3). Every Massachusetts town is listed in the report, which can be found on the mass.gov website.
Across Hampshire County, there were 642 cases over the last 14 days making the average daily incidence rate per 100,000 people 28, as of Dec. 30 data from the state Department of Public Health. The positivity rate during the same period was 3.41%, an increase from the previous two week period.
Of the 20,555 new COVID “clusters” identified between late November and late December statewide, 19,931 were “household clusters.” Of those household clusters, 51,044 cases were connected to them.
Child care settings had the second-highest number of clusters, with 155 clusters connected to 478 COVID-19 cases, and long-term care faculties had the third-highest number of clusters, with 122 clusters connected to 1,186 cases.
Long-term care facilities are required to test staff weekly. Holyoke HealthCare Center was one of 14 facilities statewide flagged as not in compliance with that policy for not reaching the testing requirement as of Dec. 24, according to Thursday’s report.
The state is also providing regular data on vaccinations. In the last week, 32,590 people statewide received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the DPH report released Thursday.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettnet.com.