When the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) released its weekly COVID-19 case numbers Thursday, it revealed something promising: Greenfield’s numbers appear to be decreasing.
Danielle Letourneau, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner’s chief of staff, said the city is feeling good about it, but is being “cautiously optimistic.”
“We see the leveling off, even with increased testing, but we know that as test results come in, we could see the numbers creep up a little again,” Letourneau said. “We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and keep taking the precautions we’ve been taking.”
FRCOG reports numbers for 25 of the county’s 26 towns — Rowe is the only one not listed — each week, including cumulative positives, the number of people currently quarantined, recoveries and deaths. The agency releases updated numbers on its website, frcog.org, every Thursday by 4 p.m.
FRCOG Director of Community Services Phoebe Walker explained the agency reports a range for five or fewer cases in a town, while exact numbers are reported for any number of cases greater than five. Most towns have consistently reported five or less cases and many have had no deaths.
This week, Greenfield reported 175 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The city has 50 residents in quarantine and there have been 40 recoveries and 40 deaths. The cumulative numbers for Greenfield that were provided to the Greenfield Recorder last week, which were higher than the figures reported this week, were later found to be incorrect.
Within the county, Orange and Montague follow Greenfield, with 31 and 20 positive cases since the beginning of the pandemic, respectively. Montague did not provide data about deaths this week, though it did report having five or fewer people in quarantine and six people who have recovered from the virus. Meanwhile, Orange has 16 people in quarantine, 22 have recovered and one person has died.
Bernardston has reported six cases with no deaths; Buckland has reported eight cases with one death; Gill has reported five or fewer cases with one death; Deerfield has had six cases with no deaths; and Shelburne has had six cases with one death.
Shutesbury, Sunderland and Whately are only reporting their number of cases, with Sunderland at seven and Shutesbury and Whately at five or less. Sunderland also reported that it has five or fewer people in quarantine.
All other towns in Franklin County have reported five or fewer cases and no deaths.
The state Department of Public Health (DPH) also releases town-by-town information each week on Wednesday. DPH’s latest statistics show Athol has had 41 positive COVID-19 cases, Petersham has five, Phillipston has 12 and Royalston has less than five. However, the state does not provide information on recoveries and deaths in individual towns. These four towns are not covered by FRCOG.
Rowe, which is also not included in FRCOG’s data collection, has less than five positive COVID-19 cases, according to DPH.
On FRCOG’s website, there is also COVID-19-related information about virtual meetings, city and town updates, and updates from the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region and sheriff, along with others. More information, including an interactive map, can be found at bit.ly/2Ksoi3h.
The state is also reporting numbers from hospitals, but Baystate Health is also reporting its numbers daily. By midweek, Baystate Franklin Medical Center had no confirmed positive cases, and three people were under investigation for having the virus.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.