As of June 15, just over two years since the first COVID-19 case was identified in Franklin County, a total of 7,619 cases have been reported between Greenfield, Montague, Deerfield and Sunderland — the four towns benefiting from a $250,000 Department of Public Health grant awarded to exp and contact tracing efforts.
“The three nurses you have working … just do a yeoman’s job on contact tracing,” Jack Sullivan, the epidemiologist working with the four communities as a result of the grant, said during a Greenfield Board of Health meeting this week. “They reach about 40% of the cases that come in, and that is critical. That really helps a lot in getting a snapshot on what is going on.”
Sullivan — who presented an overview of where the community has been, where it’s at and where it’s going with respect to the pandemic — noted the 7,619 cases likely is not all-encompassing, given the significant number of at-home tests that go unreported combined with the early hesitation to test young children.
“We’re trying to figure out a way to get people to report (at-home results) more,” he noted. “We know there’s (many more cases) because of what wastewater reports are telling us.”
Breaking the numbers down further, Sullivan said about 22% of the population in those four communities has been infected since the start of the pandemic. Among the four municipalities, Greenfield had the highest rate of infection, at nearly 24%. About 20% of Deerfield and Montague residents had been infected, and about 22% in Sunderland.
“We think part of the reason Greenfield is a little higher is because of the availability of testing,” Sullivan said.
Referring to a graph displaying trends in cases throughout the last two years, Sullivan noted the effect that mitigation strategies — such as masking and social distancing — have had on case loads throughout the pandemic. The graph also included trends associated with Department of Elementary and Secondary Education protocols. He also indicated points on the graph where availability of testing increased, which he advised shouldn’t be used as an indicator that there was more COVID-19 in the community at a given time, but rather that more cases were detected.
As health officials look to the fall, Sullivan suggested prioritizing contact tracing, particularly during surges, with “source investigation” as a secondary priority.
“We don’t want to close (businesses) down,” he said. “We want to make sure to get the word out that we want to keep people open.”
With respect to having mitigation protocols in place using trigger points for implementation, Sullivan emphasized the idea isn’t to return to the earliest days of the pandemic, when the community was advised to stay home. He also advised health officials to work with area businesses to provide education for mitigation, including ventilation checks and self-contract tracing.
Sullivan also recommended renewing focus on the unvaccinated population, noting the Novavax vaccine was recently recommended for emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“One of the things we want to try to do is education without advocacy,” Sullivan said.
And finally, he recommended increasing pop-up vaccination and testing sites through partnerships with private agencies and the public.
“Vaccines reduce severity,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we have to mandate that. … Education is imperative. Advocacy is not.”
Meanwhile, contact tracing efforts continue with support from the $250,000 Department of Public Health grant, which was awarded in November 2021. The grant will be expended evenly over two years.
Responding to a question from Greenfield Board of Health Chair Nancee Bershof about the efficacy of vaccines in preventing infection, Sullivan said that of the 7,619 reported cases, 11.8% were among fully vaccinated individuals, which doesn’t include booster shots. Still, the vaccine has been shown to reduce severity.
“I went through that myself — I had COVID … about a month and a half ago,” he said. “It never progressed much beyond a minor cold.”
Greenfield Health Director Jennifer Hoffman echoed Sullivan’s recommendation to encourage self-contact tracing and reporting at-home test results, noting the latest delivery of at-home antigen tests include a sticker with a number to call if positive.
She also emphasized the need to educate area businesses, especially as it gets closer to fall, when more activities resume indoors.
“Again, the contract tracers that we have, I can’t say enough,” Hoffman added. “In the very beginning, we were just all doing it. (Megan Tudryn) works endless hours, as well as (Robin Neipp) and (Mary Ellen Sloan), reaching out to … thousands of people. I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am.”
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne