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Springfield sees first drop in new COVID cases in a month

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Springfield Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris discusses the COVID-19 pandemic during a news briefing at City Hall in this file photo.

During the Omicron surge weekly case counts in the city set records

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus appears to be in retreat in the largest city in western Massachusetts, but victory over the virus is far from assured.

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Springfield dropped last week for the first time in four weeks, but the city’s Health and Human Services Commissioner, Helen Caulton-Harris, cautioned against declaring it the end of the Omicron surge.

“ So to have the cases go down was just really good news this past week,” said Caulton-Harris. “Our hope is that the cases continue to go down.”

For the week that ended January 22, Springfield recorded 2,371 cases, 402 fewer cases than the week before. The 2,773 new confirmed cases during the week of January 9th were the most the city has had since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The decline in cases is good news, said City Councilor Jesse Lederman, chairman of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Committee.

“Hopefully we are on the downward trajectory from this recent surge and as the warmer months come upon us, I am hoping we’ll see continued case counts dropping,” he said.

As of Tuesday, the seven-day average of new cases in Massachusetts was 10,657, down from a peak of 22,451 cases earlier this month.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have begun to fall off. Baystate Health reported Wednesday that it had 237 patients with COVID-19 among its four hospitals. On January 11th, Baystate had 307 patients infected with COVID-19 – the most since the start of the pandemic.

Almost 56 percent of the new COVID-19 cases in Springfield are people age 30 and under.

“Obviously, the concern for us is that is the lowest vaccination group as well in our city,” said Caulton-Harris.

She said getting city residents vaccinated and boosted remains her department’s primary focus.

An indoor mask mandate that began on January 3rd remains in effect.

Springfield has been distributing at-home rapid test kits for COVID-19 at neighborhood centers and branch libraries. This has coincided with a drop in demand at the large volume testing sites at the Eastfield Mall and the Springfield Technology Park, said Caulton-Harris.

“Our residents really do want the home test kits,” she said. “The numbers they are testing at Eastfield Mall have gone down, so we are not seeing the angst there with the cars spilling out onto Boston Road.”

A drawback to the heavy use of the at-home tests is that it could create an inaccurate view of the pandemic’s trajectory since results do not have to be reported to public health officials.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.