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Pittsfield’s Omicron surge peak beginning to break

A chart showing Pittsfield's falling COVID-19 daily case rates as of February 2022.
City of Pittsfield
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https://cityofpittsfield.org/covid-19_(coronavirus)/index.php

After setting the record for its highest COVID-19 daily case rate in mid-January, rates have begun to drop in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The Omicron surge sent the city’s 14-day daily case rate per 100,000 to over 283 on January 16th, far surpassing the previous record high of around 82 a year earlier.

Early this month, Pittsfield’s numbers have decreased steadily to around 169. Public Health Director Andy Cambi spoke to the Board of Health about the situation Wednesday.

“We are starting to see the downward trend of that locally and nationally," he said. "Something that I do want to note is the daily hospital census ,compared to the previous spikes that we used to deal with before, they did not rise as they did with previous spikes.”

Berkshire Medical Center, the county’s largest hospital located in downtown Pittsfield, is reporting 56 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 over the past two weeks.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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