Dalton Town Hall Won't Reopen Until Case Count Drops to 25

Health Agent Jayne Smith talks case counts in a virtual meeting of the Dalton Board of Health.

DALTON, Mass. — Town Hall will not reopen until Dalton's COVID-19 case count is 25 or less, the Board of Health reaffirmed on Monday.

There are more than 100 cases in the community with almost 70 occurring in the last seven days.

In mid-December, the offices closed to the public until further notice because of an uptick of the virus.  The 25-case cutoff was established as a measure for closure based on the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's original guidance for schools.

This meeting was virtual because of the closure.

"So where that 25 cases came from was that used to be the DESE guidance for closing school," Health Agent Jayne Smith said. "And so it's no longer as relevant as it once was."

Town Manager Tom Hutcheson asked the board members if they still agree with the number.  He wanted to ensure the metric for Town Hall closure is objective.

He referenced the omicron variant's trend in South Africa, where it was first detected in November and is now subsiding.

"And as far as I'm concerned, 25 is is a fine measure," Hutcheson said.

"I think what we're seeing with the recent rise is pretty much omicron and if South Africa is any example, it's going to go down as steeply as it went up, so it could be that by the end of January we'll be back down, close to that 25 level or below it, so that's what I'm hoping for."

Smith said that one year ago, cases were unlike how they are now because they came from a different variant of COVID-19 and were before vaccinations were available. A good portion of the population is vaccinated, she reported, and a lot of the cases are from unvaccinated individuals.

"It's hard to take a moment in time from a year ago and apply it to now because a lot has changed since a year ago, so it's just something to kind of look at," she added.

"If the board doesn't feel strongly about it, then they'll just be continuing to have the ability to kind of look at what's going on locally, certainly if we have an increase in cases at Town Hall whether we were allowed 25 or not, if we were having an outbreak at Town Hall, that would be another consideration."

Truck Crashes Into Pittsfield's Samel's Deli

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
10:55AM / Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Elm Street will be partially closed as cleanup continues. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Wednesday morning was busy for Pittsfield first responders, as a pickup truck crashed into Samel's Deli & Catering and a fire broke out on First Street.

Around 9:45 a.m., the police reported that the street in front of Samel's Deli & Catering would be closed or down to one lane as a result of a two-car collision that sent the truck careening into the deli.

The department posted two photos on Facebook, one depicting the silver truck with New York license plates crashed through the glass of the front entrance and another of a white Honda CR-V with significant damage to the front end.

"A vehicle was coming out of one of the alleyways here and struck this truck, which continued into the building," Police Officer Craig Jones explained when iBerkshires arrived on the scene.

Jones reported that there was one injury but whether it was someone in the vehicles or in the deli. A crossing signal near Samel's front entrance was also taken out by the truck.

Around this time, crews worked to clear debris in front of the restaurant as the truck was towed away. That section of the road reopened around 11 a.m.

The police, firefighters and an ambulance responded to the accident and police intend to release a statement on the incident.

Around 6:15 a.m., the Fire Department reported that it had responded to a possible structure fire at 233-235 First St. Windows on all three floors of the multi-family building are now broken or boarded up and the cause is under investigation by the Fire Investigation Unit and investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office.