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As of Thursday, Oct. 29, there are now 122 red municipalities reporting high numbers of new COVID-19 cases every day for the past 28 days. The “red” refers to the color-coded system Massachusetts is using to communicate where COVID-19 hotspots are in the state. Red signifies the highest case rate and highest risk of spreading the virus.
Of the 122 red Massachusetts communities, 10 are in Hampden County: Agawam, Blanford, Brimfield, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Holyoke, Palmer, Springfield, West Springfield, and Westfield.
To be considered a red community, the town must have an average daily new COVID-19 case rate, over the last 14 days, of 8 or more per 100,000 people and this benchmark has to have been reached in the prior 2 weeks to the 14 days - 28 days of high daily case rates.
Massachusetts like many parts of the country is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 incidents as the economy reopens and children have gone back to school. Massachusetts moved to Phase 3 Step 2 of reopening the economy on Oct. 5. With this step, the state raised the cap on the number of people at events, restaurants, and gatherings in addition to other expansions.
Some communities, such as Easthampton, have decided to roll back their economies to Phase 3 Step 1 in an effort to curb the surge. The rollback will go into effect on Oct. 30.
The following is a list of the average daily COVID-19 rates per 100,000 people per Hampden County community as of Thursday, Oct. 29 (red cities and towns are in bold):
Agawam 18
Blandford 41.2
Brimfield 9.6
Chester 0
Chicopee 14.2
East Longmeadow 18.2
Granville 9.2
Hampden 2.9
Holland 2.8
Holyoke 17.9
Longmeadow 6
Ludlow 7.5
Monson 5.9
Montgomery 0
Palmer 8.4
Russell 11.4
Southwick 3.6
Springfield 15.9
Tolland 0
Wales 7.5
West Springfield 16
Westfield 15.3
Wilbraham 6.9
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