44°
Many Hampshire County communities saw reductions in the rate of COVID-19 infections.
Rates in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, and Northampton had significantly fewer new infections compared to last week.
The 14-day positive COVID-19 test rate in South Hadley was 3 percent last week - now it’s 3.7 percent, according to the most recent information from the Baker Administration.
The infection rate in Ware also went up from 0.6 on Aug. 12, to 0.8 Aug. 19. It went up in Chesterfield, too.
In Massachusetts, the goal is that by December the state will have less than 5 percent of COVID-19 tests come back positive. On Saturday. Aug. 22, Gov. Charlie Baker reported the state’s 7-day positive test rate was at 1.1 percent, down from 1.4 percent just a week ago. (Massachusetts does not provide 7-day positive test rates for municipalities, only 14-day rates.)
Every Hampshire County community, except for Chesterfield, met that 5 percent goal in the most recent reporting period released by the governor’s office on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Chesterfield’s 14-day positive infection rate is 6.7 percent, even though only 5 people in town have contracted COVID-19 since January.
Since Jan. 1 Massachusetts has had a total of 115,850 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and administered 2.1 million tests. The total number of COVID-19 deaths in the state is 8,690 people.
Here is a breakdown of local COVID-19 data: presenting the total number of infections recorded per community since the beginning of the pandemic and the 14-day positive test rate, percent in parenthesis ( ), for the cities and towns in your community:
CLICK HERE FOR A GRAPHIC SHOWING POSITIVE RATES SINCE JULY 17.
Amherst 121 (0.3)
Belchertown 128 (0.8)
Chesterfield 5 (6.7)
Easthampton 110 (1.5)
Granby 41 (1.7)
Hadley 46 (0)
Hatfield 20 (0.7)
Northampton 316 (1.1)
South Hadley 203 (3.7)
Southampton 33 (0)
Ware 39 (0.8)
Williamsburg 14 (0.7)
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hampshire Franklin and receive free news updates.
