12 western Mass. communities enter the COVID-19 high-risk zone

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- The Mass. Department of Public Health released, on December 3, its new weekly COVID-19 public health report.

Under the state's new criteria, the DPH will now start taking population size into account when determining whether a community should be at a high-risk level or not.

The communities that are in the red zone and are at a high-risk for spreading the coronavirus include:

• Chicopee 
• Granby 
• Hampden 
• Holyoke 
• Lenox 
• Ludlow 
• Monson 
• Palmer 
• Pittsfield 
• Southwick 
• Springfield 
• West Springfield 

The DPH reports that in the last two weeks, Chicopee has had 390 positive cases, Granby has had 28, Hampden has had 35, Holyoke has had 287, Lenox has had 48, Ludlow has had 205, Monson has had 35, Palmer has had 48, Pittsfield has had 354, Southwick has had 52, Springfield has had 1,420, and West Springfield has had 215.

The communities that are in the yellow zone include:

• Agawam 
• Amherst 
• Belchertown 
• Dalton 
• East Longmeadow 
• Easthampton 
• Great Barrington 
• Greenfield 
• Longmeadow 
• North Adams
• Northampton 
• South Hadley 
• Ware 
• Westfield
• Wilbraham 

Lastly, the communities that are in the green zone include:

• Adams 
• Lanesborough 
• Montague 
• Southampton 
• Sunderland 

For more information, you can click for the full report here.