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Date: 2/2/2022
SPRINGFIELD – Health and Human Services Director Helen Caulton-Harris said the city experienced it’s first case decrease since November during the Jan. 25 COVID-19 Response Committee meeting.
Harris opened the meeting by providing a case update, revealing that cases dropped by 402 from the date of the meeting compared to the prior week. She expressed her encouragement with the decrease as COVID-19 cases rose throughout the holiday season and through the arrival of the more-contagious omicron variant.
“It’s good news for us since we’ve been in this fight since November 2021…Our hope is that the cases continue to go down,” said Caulton-Harris.
While Caulton-Harris noted a case decrease, she shared that the youth populous continues to be most impacted by the virus.
According to the COVID-19 data from the week prior to the meeting, the 0-10 age range experienced 481 cases, the 11-20 age range featured 424 reported positives and the 21-30 ages had 415 positive cases.
“A majority of our cases are under the age of 50,” said Caulton-Harris. The health and human service director said the high number of cases in the youth populous is not surprising considering the group’s lower vaccination rates. To merge the vaccination gap, the health and human services director stressed that the city is continuing their advocacy efforts, including vaccinating 600 students through clinics hosted within the schools.
Caulton-Harris also provided an update about the city’s efforts to provide ample testing opportunities for residents. At-home testing kits continue to be distributed through the New North Citizen’s Council, South End Community Center and the Department of Health and Human service’s office location. Readers can find the full schedule for these sites test kit availability at https://www.springfield-ma.gov/cos/covid/covid-19-vaccine-appointment-and-clinics.
With at-home tests gaining increased traction from local options and the federal government’s delivery of tests to each household that signs up, Caulton-Harris revealed that traffic continues to decrease at the city’s Eastfield Mall testing site. She shared her only concern with the favoring of at-home tests remains that positive cases will not be a part of the city’s COVID-19 data.
“The challenge we have right now is that people who are testing positive at home, there’s no mechanism for residents to report their positive tests to the Department of Health and Human Services or to the state Department of Public Health,” said Caulton-Harris. Still, she relayed that the at-home rapid test kits continue to be “extremely accurate” in their results.
In regard to the city’s mask mandate, the health and human services director shared that the temporary mandate will be reviewed again in mid-February. Chairperson of the COVID-19 Response Committee City Councilor Jesse Lederman said the group will reconvene in roughly two weeks to discuss any updates.