Officials eye valid results of test site
ALBANY, N.Y. » During a joint press conference Monday morning, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy and Albany County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen seemed encouraged about gaining updated data from a new COVID-19 test site.
The drive-thru tents set up on the Washington Avenue side at the Colonial Quad lot on the University at Albany campus saw at least 15 cars lined up as it opened at 10 a.m. Monday.
As of Monday morning, there are 300 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Albany County, according to McCoy. In addition, there are 340 people under mandatory quarantine, plus 57 people under precautionary quarantine.
McCoy also noted 41 people are hospitalized, and the hospitalization rate for Albany County stands at just over 13.6%. Among those hospitalized, 15 people are in the ICU.
“Today’s development of having the ability to do community testing is a real great shift for us,” Whalen said regarding the UAlbany site.
“To date, we have not really been able to look at this from any meaningful epidemiological perspective of knowing where we are
cal perspective of knowing where we are in the curve. This data that we look forward to getting in the next week is going to be really key for us to see where we are,” Whalen added.
McCoy anticipated the test site will have seen 400 people on Monday, adding it will have the capacity to test at least 1,000 people per day moving forward.
According to McCoy, the site is testing people from all over the Capital Region. However, no walk-ins are allowed and before going to the site, people must call the COVID-19 hotline number at 1-888-364-3065 and obtain a pin number. After Monday, the test site hours will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“So far we’ve been looking at indicators like how the hospitals are doing, how our mortality rate is and the percentage positive. So those that are tested, what percentage of them have been positive. Our percent positive has been around 7-8%, it hasn’t been that high,” Whalen noted on the current data available to the county.
“If you look at the areas where there are widespread testing, where we know there are communities that are currently reaching their surge capacity in the hospitals, the percent positive is more like 40-60%. So from those indicators, we could determine that it’s unlikely that we’ve hit our peak in Albany County,” Whalen noted on what the new testing could yield for the county in terms of numbers.
“As we get more people tested, the data becomes more meaningful, we are able to get a better picture of where we are at in the community,” Whalen added.
With high holy days of Passover and Easter happening this week for those of the Jewish and Christian faiths respectively, guidelines for practicing faith were also discussed.
Father Chris DeGiovine of St. Matthew’s Church and Rabbi Roy Feldman of Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob joined the press conference in making in the announcement to discuss the importance of following state guidelines on mass gatherings, social distancing and self-isolation ahead of Passover and Easter.
“I know for many members of the Jewish and Christian faiths, this is an especially difficult time to have to stay home during the pandemic. However, we’ve seen the dangers to public health in other states across the country that provided exceptions to social distancing and self-isolation guidelines for religious gatherings,” McCoy said.
“As Rabbi Feldman said, ‘Danger to life overrides any ritual needs, whatsoever.’ I want to thank both of these esteemed community and faith leaders for helping us spread the word to keep people safe and also for making efforts to help their congregations continue to practice from home online,” McCoy added.