SPRINGFIELD — Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said Monday there are “no excuses” for people not to get vaccinated as the number of new coronavirus cases among city residents rose for the third consecutive week, again dominated by younger residents.
There were 495 new COVID-19 infections among Springfield residents last week, Nov. 14-20, as compared to 400 cases the week before, Nov. 7-13, city officials said.
“Simply put, for health and human services commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris and I not to consider going back to mandating restrictions, we need to get everyone vaccinated,” Sarno said in a news release. “It is plain and simple, get your shot and your booster shot. There is no excuses, the vaccine is readily available for everyone.”
Vaccination is the way to “put to rest this surreal COVID-19 pandemic and move forward with everything we can’t to do,” Sarno said.
City officials continue to raise concerns that the largest portion of residents who were newly infected last week — 54.1% — are 30 or younger. There were 268 residents in that age group last week.
Of that number, 212 were under the age of 20, Caulton-Harris said.
The city ended a mask mandate on Nov. 1, no longer requiring people to wear masks at public places and gatherings. The mask mandate took effect Sept. 13 in response to an increase in cases at that time.
Springfield peaked at 886 new COVID cases the week of Sept. 12, and that number dropped to 214 the week of Oct. 24.
Caulton-Harris said that with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, “it should be common practice to ask an individual who is at any indoor gathering their vaccination status.” That information helps others to decide their own strategies such as wearing masks and taking other “prevention, intervention and mitigation strategies,” she said.
The city recently stated that approximately 52% of residents are fully vaccinated, significantly lower than the state vaccination rate.
“If everyone in the gathering is fully vaccinated, masks are not necessary,” Caulton-Harris said. “However if there are unvaccinated individuals in the gathering face covering/Masks are advised for those persons.”
At Baystate Health, there were 68 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infections on Monday, including seven in critical care, a spokesman said. That included 53 patients at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and the remainder at community hospitals in the region.
That compared to 70 hospitalized patients at Baystate Health hospitals last Monday.
There were eight COVID-19 patients at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield on Monday, including one in intensive care, a spokeswoman said.
Cooley Dickinson Health Care reported six COVID-19 patients Monday.
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