SOME POSITIVE NEWS
Albany County reports zero new coronavirus hospitalizations Monday
ALBANY, N.Y. » Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy provided a Monday morning briefing on the coronavirus pandemic.
“So we are starting to see more increase in positive cases with COVID-19 but we’re not seeing the hospitalizations,”
McCoy remarked on the 50 new confirmed cases.
Encompassed within those cases were 28 who had close contact to other positive cases, 20 who did not presently have a clear infection source, and two healthcare workers or residents of a group setting.
“Yes, I’m a little worried with spring break what happened down in Miami and other parts of this country and where these
kids are traveling back to,” McCoy explained on how they’re monitoring any potential new spread of the virus or variants.
There was, however, positive news to report on the hospitalization front with no new patients admitted overnight.
“The last time we saw no new hospitalizations in a 24-hour period was back on November 26,” McCoy said, adding there are currently 23 county residents
hospitalized with four patients in the ICU.
Albany County has 505 active cases and 1,233 under mandatory quarantine. Conversely, 47 cases have been cleared for recovery and release.
In an attempted to get homebound seniors vaccinated, Albany County has sent 425 of its 500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson shot received last week,
to area partners, including 95 doses to Colonie EMS, 95 doses to Guilderland EMS, 10 to Marra’s Pharmacy in Cohoes, 25 doses to Eddy Senior Care and 200 doses to Eddy Visiting Nurse and Rehab. Association.
McCoy additionally noted the progress being made on total county vaccinations to date.
“We’re at 32.5 percent of
Albany County’s population has received the first dose. An estimated 16.4 percent have been completely vaccinated in the county,” McCoy explained.
Albany County will host vaccine PODs this Thursday from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Albany Capital Center. McCoy added that the county has received 1,007 doses of Pfizer, 1,000 doses of Moderna.
Later during the briefing, McCoy and Albany
County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen called upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lower the vaccination eligibility threshold to the 50+ population. Following McCoy’s briefing, during his latest coronavirus update, Cuomo confirmed every New Yorker 50 and up will be eligible to be vaccinated starting March 23.
“We want to lower it to 50 because based on the numbers and based on the science with what we were dealing with, people passing away from this was 50 and above. Let’s base the vaccine on the population that needs it,” McCoy said.
“Really at this point with more vaccine coming in it should be open to people that want to get this vaccine at this time and point. But I do want to make sure we get the homebound completed and we get the people with underlying health issues first and foremost,” McCoy explained.
Whalen echoed those sentiments on advocating for the expansion.
“In terms of eligibility, I believe that this will be opened up in the near future but at this point, it couldn’t be soon enough,” Whalen remarked.
“What we really want to do is to concentrate on getting as many vaccines out as we possibly can. So to have an expanded eligibility for some of the populations mentioned by the county executive just now, will be very helpful. There are a lot of you out there in the workforce that are forward-facing that need to be covered and need to be protected,” Whalen continued.
“It is important from a public health perspective, it is important from an economic perspective, it is important from a continuity of operations, continuity of life and resumption of life as we know it, to be able to get back to the point where people feel protected and can get back into the workplace,” Whalen added.