WESTERN MASS. – In the ongoing fight to keep the rates of COVID-19 low in Massachusetts, the Baker-Polito Administration has created a color-coded system to quickly and easily assess the risk of COVID-19 transmission in a given city or town.

“Using stoplight colors – red, yellow, and green – we’ve created color charts depicting municipalities regarding new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 [residents],” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders at an Aug. 11 press conference announcing the designations.

The system is fairly straightforward. A municipality shaded in red on the map indicates that it has a rate of more than eight new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents within the previous two week period and are considered high risk. Yellow cities and towns have between four and eight new cases per 100,000 and are at moderate risk. Green, low-risk communities have fewer than four cases per 100,000 residents. Finally, any area not shaded on the map has reported fewer than five cases total in the previous two-week window.

Sudders addressed Baystaters who live in high-risk municipalities. “To residents in these communities, we have some simple messages. There is an extremely high level of COVID in your community. Respect the virus and stay vigilant.”

Based on the latest data available at press time, from July 26 to Aug. 8, Agawam, East Longmeadow, West Springfield, Westfield and Wilbraham are among the towns considered low risk. Chicopee, Easthampton, Longmeadow and Springfield have a moderate risk. The only high-risk municipalities in Hampden and Hampshire Counties are Holyoke and Granby.

The state’s COVID Enforcement and Intervention Team, which includes members of the Executive Office and Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Command Center, the Massachusetts State Police (MSP), the Department of Labor Standards (DLS), the Division of Professional Licensure (DPL), the Department of Public Health (DPH), the Division of Local Services (DLS), the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) and the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS), will provide aid to high risk communities through the following actions:

• Targeted interventions and inspections by a range of member agencies, including Local Services, Labor Standards, DPH, MSP and ABCC, coordinated by EOPSS and MEMA.
• Increased enforcement, including fines, of sector guidance for businesses to ensure businesses and residents are aware of and following COVID-19 orders.
• Cease and desist orders as necessary for businesses and organizations in violation of the COVID-19 orders.
• Support for ABCC and local licensing boards in exercising their existing authority to fine restaurants or suspend or cancel liquor licenses when restaurants do not comply with required COVID-19 safety measure or sanitation codes.
• Targeted public messaging to alert residents of higher risk COVID communities (road signs, PSAs, reverse 911, etc.).
• Technical support to local government officials to support enhanced local COVID-19 prevention efforts such as assistance in accessing CARES Act funding.
• Potential restrictions or shutdowns for parks, playgrounds, businesses or other entities and locations believed to be contributing to the COVID-19 spread in higher risk COVID-19 communities.
• Additional public health support such as testing, tracing and quarantining.

Jumping off the color-codes, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released expectations for return–to–school models. According to DESE, green and white communities should return full–time or with a hybrid model that has students on campus part time, yellow communities should use the hybrid model or go fully remote and red communities should continue remotely. By the time this guidance was issued, however, most municipalities had already voted on which plan they will implement in the fall.

Baker reminded residents at the press conference, “Regardless of where your community sits, COVID is not going away.”

Jeanne Galloway, West Springfield’s Director of Public Health said the new guidance does “absolutely not” change her opinion on the safety of returning to school in-person. The West Springfield School committee recently voted to return to school remotely with a plan to evaluate the situation later in the fall.

The information on what designation communities fall under will be updated weekly by the Department of Public Health based on the most current two–week window.

Agawam Mayor William Sapelli told Reminder Publishing, “I don’t know that [the state] has tied funding to any of these categories,” referring to the risk categories. In addition he explained that “This is very fluid and will continue to be,” as people recover from cases and test negative after their illness.

Addressing Longmeadow's status, the town's Health Director Beverly Hirschhorn said, “The color classification is an indicia of the COVID case incidence at one point in time. It is always important to dig behind the statistics to really understand the transmission risk within the community."

Hirschhorn explained to Reminder Publishing that there was an uptick in cases about two weeks ago as a result of people traveling to “hot spots” and another out–of–town source. She expects to see the risk classification revert back to low–risk “green” as those residents recover.

Hirschhorn praised the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for allowing “generous use of public health grant funds to enhance contact tracing and other data collection/data analysis.” She also noted as helpful the guidance from state epidemiologists and assistance to municipal boards of health.

Easthampton Health Agent Bri Eichstaedt told Reminder Publishing the use of raw numbers such as the ones illustrated on the map can be problematic.

“The problem with the map is we could have a nursing home with a cluster and that could easily put a community in the red zone,” she said. “These kinds of numbers don’t have the context attached to them. You could be red one day and green another.”

An example of that played out the week of the governor’s announcement. According to the initial map released by the governor on Aug. 11 with data through Aug. 5, Easthampton was labeled green. However, in the Aug. 12 Weekly COVID-19 Health Report with data through Aug. 8, the city was in the yellow category.

“If anything, that reinforces how the virus is still in control,” Mayor Nicole LaChapelle said.

Eichstaedt added, “If something like a population of kids at Williston were to test positive, for example, we would easily go into yellow or red.”

However, when asked if the city had concerns about student populations returning to the area causing spikes in COVID-19 numbers, Eichstaedt said she was confident that proper procedures would prevent significant increase. While several local colleges have opted to keep students off campus at least temporarily, the Williston Northampton School is among those who will return in-person.

“Williston has been spectacular and we have been in contact with them every step of the way, “ Eichstaedt said. “I am very confident they will follow the guidelines and go above and beyond them.”

When asked if the map and risk designations utilized by the state would influence the city’s position to reopen municipal buildings like schools, Eichstaedt said it “could play into” the decision.

“If we are in the red consistently, it would give us the idea that something was wrong,” she said, adding such an occurrence would prompt the city to review  why numbers remain high and what can be done to adjust the city’s policies and procedures.

LaChapelle said local government would ultimately make the decision on what is safest for the community.

“I am grateful for the science in the guidance, but it is exactly that – guidance,” she said. “One of the reasons for local government is to factor in the variables that influence the science.”

Addressing the schools, she said as an example that “there is not one HVAC system that anyone can say won’t exacerbate the spread of COVID-19.” She noted three elementary schools are extremely outdated and the middle school has recently had air quality problems.

LaChapelle reiterated that municipal buildings remain closed until at least September.

“If we are green on the map, we are green not because there is a vaccine or because we have controlled the virus; it’s because we have taken precautions like closing municipal buildings,”?she said. “We will continue to review the situation and make the decisions that are in the best interest of keeping people safe.”

Earlier in the week, the governor announced a pause in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan and tightened regulations on gatherings and hospitality service.

The new orders create stricter standards for hospitality industry establishments. Food prepared on-site must accompany the service of alcoholic beverages. Enforcement of these rules will also be ramped up.

Eichstaedt explained the new orders help clear up rules that were “extremely confusing and misleading in the beginning.” She said initial guidance stated establishments with retail food permits would be able to operate under certain conditions, however, all bars and restaurants have these permits.

“Local boards of health have been asking for a change since it first came out,”?she said. “This language makes a lot more sense. It basically means you have to have full-blown food service, not just popcorn or something like that.”

Eichstaedt noted breweries and beer gardens are still permitted to operate with food trucks.

Reminder Publishing reached out to the governor’s office to ask if any data pointed to restaurants or bars being linked to COVID-19 upticks but had not received a response as of press time.

When asked the same question, Eichstaedt said, “I think the idea is that we want to avoid nightclub kinds of settings. We want to avoid opportunities for close contact. At a restaurant, you’re not there to socialize with others.”

Acknowledging there was no way to please everyone, she added, “On a recent conference call with the state, they made it clear they are trying to reopen the economy while trying to outweigh the negative impacts. Food was determined to be more essential.”