Springfield seeing slight increase in COVID-19 cases

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Springfield like in many other places around the country. Now, the city of Philadelphia is considering reinstating their mask mandate.

The latest COVID-19 data in Springfield shows cases up to levels we haven’t seen since mid to late February.

“The COVID-19 cases in the city of Springfield are rising slightly every week,” said Springfield Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris.

Caulton-Harris told Western Mass News cases have been on a steady rise since mid-March. For the week of March 13, the city saw 48 cases, the lowest case numbers after the January surge. For the week of March 20, that number went up to 71 cases, then the last week of March, the data was up to triple digits at 115 cases and last week, there were 137 cases.

[Reporter: Does that alarm you at all?]

“The COVID-19 cases increasing doesn’t necessarily alarm me. I expected that we were going to see an increase when individuals went back outdoors and were gathering,” Caulton-Harris added.

With rising cases in Philadelphia, health officials are weighing a return to an indoor mask mandate. We asked Caulton-Harris if that could happen here.

“At this point, the city of Springfield, nor the Commonwealth to my knowledge, is considering reinstituting our mask mandates at this point. That does mean we will not, in the future, consider that,” Caulton-Harris explained.

At the COVID-19 testing site at Eastfield Mall, American Medical Response (AMR) is seeing a difference in its positivity rate.

“It’s been a slight uptick as of late, nothing alarming, and what we really trying to keep on is hospitalization, and of course, deaths,” said AMR Operations Supervisor Jeff Suriano.

Caulton-Harris added that public health guidelines remain the same: wash your hands, watch your distance, and get vaccinated and boosted.

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