SUNDERLAND — Three Western Massachusetts communities — Amherst, Holyoke and Sunderland — have been labeled higher risk for COVID-19 infections as of Wednesday, after each experienced a rise in their average daily case rate over the past two weeks.

The communities joined Springfield as the only ones in Western Massachusetts exceeding eight daily cases per 100,000, according to data reported by the state’s Department of Public Health. The designation puts those towns in the “red zone” of the DPH Community-Level COVID-19 Data Map, which is updated weekly.

In Sunderland, the designation is a result of 11 positive test results that have been reported to the town in the last two weeks, said Town Administrator Geoffrey Kravitz.

“Those cases are almost exclusively an isolated group related to (University of Massachusetts Amherst),” Kravitz said. “We haven’t seen any spread into the wider community.”

According to Board of Health Chair Caitlyn Rock, six of those cases were reported to the town last week, and an additional five were reported this week.

Through contact tracing of the initial six cases, 12 confirmed close contacts were identified, she said.

“UMass is working with us, and the students themselves are very cooperative,” said Rock, adding that contact tracing is still underway for the five cases identified this week.

Because of the “isolated nature” of the cases, Sunderland Elementary School, as well as Frontier Regional School — which are operating on a hybrid model of education — have been unaffected, according to Superintendent Darius Modestow.

“After consulting with the Board of Health we have determined that the positive cases are part of an isolated group that is not associated with any school personnel, students or families,” Modestow wrote Wednesday night in an email to the Sunderland Elementary and Frontier Regional School communities. “We are closely monitoring this situation, and if needed, we are prepared to move to remote-only learning if it is called for by our local Board of Health.”

Kravitz said the potential for an increase in cases was on the town’s radar as the academic year began and college students moved into off-campus housing in Sunderland.

“We’re aware that with the increased population and with new residents coming into town, there was a potential increase with the number of cases,” he said.

Kravitz said the town is working closely with the university, and has been in communication with university officials since August.

“I was talking to (UMass) just last week about their outreach to students in Sunderland and how we can expand on that, and do more education and outreach,” Kravitz said. “Just to make sure the message on how they can protect themselves and the community is as widely acknowledged as possible.”

Still, he emphasized that the cases reported to the town are isolated to the UMass community, and the lack of spread indicates to him there isn’t a “significant risk to the community.”

“Even though the state metrics say we’re a red community,” he said, “there isn’t a need to change what we’re doing except to closely monitor what’s going on.”

Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne