Albany County’s COVID-19 numbers continue to rise, with yet another death blamed on the virus.
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy on Saturday said a woman in her 90s, who was a resident of an undisclosed congregate setting, died. She is the 140th person in the county to succumb since the outbreak.
Most of the key numbers continue to trend upward. The number of confirmed cases rose by 32 in the past day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 3,427. Among the new cases, 15 had close contact with positive cases, two reported out-of-state travel, three were health care workers or residents of a congregate setting and 12 do not have a clear source of infection as yet.
The overall case count will fluctuate as the CommCare records for college students are transferred to the county in which they are isolating for their daily monitoring and then transferred back to the county for the final case count, McCoy noted.
The number of people under mandatory quarantine has increased to 1,097 from 1,045.
The five-day average for new daily positives increased to 23.8 from 18.8.
There were no new hospitalizations to report overnight, while the number of county residents currently hospitalized due to the virus decreased from 13 to 12. There are still two patients in intensive care, unchanged from Friday. The hospitalization rate has decreased slightly from 0.38 to 0.35 percent.
“Sadly, we’ve lost another resident to the virus, and while we did not have any new hospitalizations overnight, we need to closely monitor that number,” McCoy said. “My condolences to the latest family who has lost a loved one to COVID-19.”
Warren County
Warren County Health Services reported four new resident cases as of Saturday morning, with no additional recoveries documented.
Health Services staff are monitoring 12 active cases as of Saturday, all with mild illness. None are hospitalized.
One of the cases involves a person who had been in a Glens Falls City School District school earlier this week.
Two of the new cases, including the Glens Falls school case, involve household contacts of a person who tested positive earlier this week, the county said. Another tested positive during testing for employment at an out-of-county workplace, while the fourth appears to have become infected through contact with a person from a New England state who visited acquaintances in the county last week. Quarantines for all four new cases have been arranged.
County Health Services Director Ginelle Jones continues “to strongly urge the public to avoid non-essential gatherings, and direct that those who feel any symptom of illness should refrain from attending school, work or going into public until they consult with a medical provider to discuss a COVID-19 test.”
Mask use, hand washing and social distancing are particularly important during this period of time as we look to keep our schools open and COVID-free, Jones said.
