County-run nursing home cases rise

State announces nine deaths amid record high for testing reports

Rensselaer and Albany counties reported new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including a number connected to a Rensselaer County-run nursing facility. New York state announced nine deaths — even as it achieved a new record high for testing reports.

Van Rensselaer Manor records 4 new cases

There are four new COVID-19 cases in Rensselaer County since Friday, all connected to the county’s Van Rensselaer Manor nursing home, the county health department announced Saturday via Facebook.

One new case involves an 82-year-old resident at the

North Greenbush facility and the three other new cases involve employees there ranging in age from 37 to 57.

To date, there have been eight cases among Van Rensselaer Manor residents and 14 cases involving employees. Seven of the cases among residents were confirmed this week. One of the employees who tested positive is a resident of Schenectady County.

The new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 1,042. There are now 64 active cases in the county.

Twelve residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, including one in the ICU. As well, 734 residents are in monitor quarantine, including 405 due to exposure and 329 because of travel.

There have been 66,154 tests administered, including 488 tests recorded Friday.

There have been 42 deaths in the county due to COVID-19, with the latest death on Sept. 5.

The county also announced one new case cleared for recovery, bringing the total of cleared cased to 936 cases.

Albany County five-day average hits 20 cases

Albany County recorded 12 new cases overnight, County Executive Dan Mccoy said on Saturday.

That brings the county’s total to 3,287 since the first recorded case seven months ago.

The five-day average for new daily positives increased from 19.6 to 20.

Mccoy said eight of the cases stemmed from people who had close contact with an infected person, one is a healthcare worker or a resident of a congregate setting, and three did not have a clear source of transmission.

Ten people remained in the hospital on Saturday, the same as Friday, Mccoy said.

Statewide positivity rate hovers near one percent

New York state saw nine COVID-19 deaths on Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Saturday, as the state achieved a new record high number of almost 160,000 test results reported.

Statewide, the positivity rate for coronavirus is at 1.11 percent, however in certain “Red Zone Focus Areas” or “hot spots” — downstate in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Rockland and Orange counties — the positivity rate is 4.34 percent (down from 4.84 on Thursday), the gover