80 COVID cases

Saratoga moves into “high” transmission category

Albany County reports the highest number of coronavirus cases it’s seen in almost four months.

Pointing to the highly contagious delta variant, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said the 80 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday are the highest in almost four months.

Also on Saturday, the CDC’s data tracker now has Saratoga County rated “high” in its level of community transmission. Other Capital Region area counties are still in the lower, “substantial” category. The county had 240 new cases in the last seven days, a 44 percent jump.

Back on April

22, Albany County had 20 people hospitalized and six patients in area intensive care units, he said. On Friday, 11 were hospitalized, with two in the ICU.

McCoy also noted that there have been 292 new positive cases since Monday, so “there is no doubt that we need to get more people vaccinated.”

Among the 80 new cases, 15 had close contacts to positive cases, four reported traveling out of state, 55 did not have clear sources of infection as yet and six are health care workers or residents of congregate living settings.

The rise in cases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “substantial rate of community transmission” label prompted several local governments this past week to require employees and visitors to wear masks while inside their buildings, including Albany and Schenec

tady counties and the city of Albany. More and more local health care institutions are requiring their staff to get vaccinated or face dismissal.

Saratoga County Public Health Services Saturday said its high level of transmission is being fueled by the delta variant and the positivity rate in the county is at 4.46 percent. The agency recommends that all people — whether fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, or unvaccinated — wear a

mask when indoors with people who are not members of their own household, outdoors in crowded settings, and when engaging in activities that involve close contact with

others who are not fully vaccinated.

Weekly vaccination clinics continue to be offered throughout the county. To date, 80.3 percent of vaccineeligible

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