PITTSFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - Berkshire County is now being considered the big question mark when it comes to coronavirus in Massachusetts — seven people who have not traveled nor had contact with the virus have tested positive.
“I think that’s the million-dollar question. How did it get to Berkshire county?” Allison Eagan of the Berkshire Public Health Alliance wants to know.
Health officials believe these are cases where the virus is spreading through community engagement.
For example, one person sneezes on a door handle and a little while later, another person touches that same doorknob and then their face.
When the first diagnosis was identified in Clarksburg, a town of just 1,000 people, the town shut down so public buildings like the town hall, schools, library and senior center could get a deep cleaning.
“Everybody knows each other, everybody accesses the same public buildings and resources,” Eagan said. “and I think they’ve closed out of an abundance of caution.”
One of the infected patients came to Berkshire Medical Center for treatment but unwittingly exposed 70 employees, including 54 nurses.
Those medical staffers were put on leave, according to the Massachusetts Nursing Association.
Even the mayor of North Adams, Thomas Bernard, is working from home.
“I was with a colleague – a member of the council – over the weekend who subsequently to that felt some minor symptoms and had himself tested to be cautious,” Bernard explained. “Until the result comes back I’m just being cautious.”
What is particularly concerning is that people with the virus are from all over the county — not just one town.
Health officials said that since the Berkshires borders New York, Connecticut, and Vermont it is difficult to trace the source of the outbreak by geography alone.
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