INCREASE FROM PARTY
McCoy: Partygoers now responsible for 28 cases
ALBANY, N.Y. » Albany County Executive Dan McCoy confirmed 28 cases of COVID-19 can be attributed to the Hudson Avenue backyard parties of 200 people during the Fourth of July weekend. McCoy made the announcement Wednesday morning on the increased party cases.
This comes as the county executive confirmed 14 new positive COVID-19 cases overall in the county Wednesday.
“Out of these new cases, we now have four linked to Hudson Avenue again, the party group. So four more of that 14 are linked to the 200 people,” McCoy remarked on the cases linked to the party.
“Two cases of healthcare workers, four are families who traveled. So we have four more people that decided to go on vacation, go visit friends, family. We have one that is a close contact to a positive case,” McCoy noted on where the additional cases stemmed from.
McCoy also spoke to the importance of people being honest in helping their contact tracing efforts, as three of the new cases Wednesday still didn’t have a source of transmission.
“Without people being honest where they were or who they’ve been in contact with, this is how the virus continues to spread,” McCoy said.
“One of the things it turns out of the six yesterday that I talked about, two of them now from the six yesterday that we couldn’t trace, we traced it back to the 200 people that were partying on Hudson Avenue. It brings the total up to 28 people so far that have become positive out of that party,” McCoy added.
McCoy noted that he looks forward to addressing the issue of parties regarding the 20 to 29 age group, alongside University at Albany President Dr. Havidan Rodriguez and Siena College President Chris Gibson, at his Thursday morning press conference. McCoy also encouraged those at the party to call the Albany County Department of Health at (518) 447- 4640 to get expedited testing.
Addit i onal l y, McCoy confirmed a kitchen worker at the Tipsy Moose in Albany tested positive for COVID-19. The establishment has subsequently closed temporarily, as they work to sanitize the restaurant.
The Albany County Health Department is also attempting to gain more
clarity on a press release sent out by Gov. Andrew
Cuomo Tuesday afternoon regarding a reported death and if that person was indeed a county resident.
On the overall cases, McCoy confirmed that as of Wednesday, there have been 2,139 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Albany County. Additionally, there are 664 people under mandatory quarantine, up from 578.
The five- day average for new daily positive cases has increased to 12 from 11.8 Tuesday. Currently, there are 84 active cases, up from 77 Tuesday. Thus far, 6,614 people have completed quarantine, while 2,055 of them have tested positive and recovered, which is up seven.
Presently, three people remain hospitalized and the hospitalization rate stands at 0.14%. One person remains in the Intensive Care Unit ( ICU). The county’s death toll remains at 122 people who have died from COVID-19 since numbers began being tracked back in March.