COVID

What does little Monson’s move into the ‘red zone’ say about the state’s COVID-19 map?

“Rewards for testing less when what we need is more testing."

Town of Monson Wendy Maeda/Globe staff, file

By Arianna MacNeill

3 minutes to read

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The map of Massachusetts showing the risk of COVID-19 infection is mostly a sea of gray in the western part of the state, with a few dots of green and yellow.Then there’s one red blip. That’s Monson.Never heard of Monson? It’s a town of nearly 8,800 people in Hampden County, according to U.S. Census data. It borders Connecticut. Its top attractions include Peaked Mountain and Tree House Brewing Company, Trip Advisor says.Monson was colored red in the state’s weekly release of individual community data due to an average daily incidence rate higher than eight per 100,000 residents. In Monson, it was 8.5. There were 470 tests conducted over the last two weeks, and 13 came back positive; the town’s positivity rate was 2.77 percent. Monson tied with Chatham as the 11th riskiest community.Two weeks ago, Monson had no coronavirus cases for that 14-day period. Of the 288 tests conducted in the two weeks prior, none were positive.A party of less than 10 people is to blame for seven of the cases, Town Administrator Evan Brassard told MassLive. Contact tracing from that event continues, as some people went to another party afterward.“It’s quite amazing how fast it blooms,” Brassard said, according to MassLive. “There are pending results and contact tracing.”Due to the rise in cases, in-person learning has been postponed, and schools began the year remotely, the news service said.Meanwhile, vagaries like the one in little Monson had an official from a much larger municipality, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curatone, questioning the validity of the map, and individual community data.“Every community in the state can tick into the red,” he said in a series of tweets. “I fully expect Somerville will. Our latest: testing more than doubled, incidence rate up, positivity rate down. Local leaders should welcome that. We need to catch EVERY positive case.”He went on to say that he believes the map “creates the wrong incentives.”“Rewards for testing less when what we need is more testing,” he said. “Worst thing for our public health response is unidentified positive cases. Can’t trace or isolate them. If people have contracted the disease, we need to know.”

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In response, state officials say monitoring a community’s case rate per 100,000 residents is “a widely used metric by public health experts.”

“Our COVID-19 Enforcement and Intervention Team (CEIT) works collaboratively with each community to stop the spread,” Tory Mazzola, a spokesperson for the state’s COVID-19 Command Center, said in a statement. “These localized plans take into account much more than the daily case rate per 100,000 residents, including positive test rate, age group positive tests and contact tracing analysis.

“These data points help in determining the best way to deploy resources,” Mazzola wrote. “If we observe a community with a lower-than-expected-testing rate, we will reach out to these cities and towns to collaborate and understand the local situation, and as the mayor indicated, cities and towns need to consider the trends in nearby communities as they consider enforcement, communications and policies. 

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 “It’s important that we all remain vigilant — wear a mask, get tested if you feel sick and limit gathering sizes,” said Mazzola. “These are the most critical pieces to stopping the spread and protecting the lives of our families, friends and neighbors.”

That’s the idea in Monson, where the town is asking people to wear masks and not attend gatherings.

“If Monson does what it is supposed to we can get back to low risk quickly,” town officials said on social media. “Stay safe everyone and let’s work together to get our numbers back down.”

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