McCoy: Follow the governor’s mandates
ALBANY, N.Y. » County Executive Dan McCoy said he anticipates the county reaching over 100 positive confirmed coronavirus cases by Monday morning.
As of Saturday morning, there are 89 positive cases in the county with 386 people under mandatory quarantine and 571 people under precautionary quarantine.
Albany County Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen also stressed how the county is more than likely going to see an increase in numbers of the days and coming weeks, however, she did note that the numbers may not jump significantly in the near future since there is less widespread testing occurring now.
“The likelihood is we are just at the start of this outbreak in the community,” Whalen said.
“Everyone just needs to remain calm,” McCoy said during a Saturday morning news conference.”
This is the new normal, it’s going to be this way for a couple of months, we’re not even at the tip of this yet,” McCoy said during a Saturday morning news conference.
McCoy along with Whalen once again stressed the importance of people needing to follow social distancing guidelines and other mandatory mandates enforced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“We need to follow the governor’s mandating,” McCoy said.
“There’s a reason the governor and everyone is putting this out there, please, by all means, abide it.”
“By doing social isolation, you slow it down,” McCoy added.” You’re not going to prevent it, you’re going to slow it down and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re not trying to overload hospitals, so the more you socially isolate yourselves and stay away, the easier this will be.”
Whalen added that she is surprised there are still people that don’t get the importance of staying home and following social distancing.
“Your staying home is saving a life,” Whalen said. “Please know the importance of this.”
“Social distancing is to keep that curve lower... So that we don’t overwhelm our health care system,” she added.
Whalen said health officials are continuing to do contact tracing for each case.
County of f icials encourage those that have symptoms t o contact their doctor. They also urged anyone dealing with stress or other mental health issues to contact the Department of Health at 518-269- 6634.
“This is something that a lot of people have never had to deal with,” McCoy said.
“You have to be ready for emergencies,” McCoy added. “We’re ready, and we’re going to be prioritizing things as we move forward.”
“It’s different times we’re in and in different times we need to stand up and take care of another,” McCoy said.