Albany County learns of 24 private nursing home deaths

ALBANY, N.Y. » County officials learned about another 24 deaths occurring at private nursing homes that were not reported to the Albany County Health Department until this past week.

While there have been no new deaths overnight, there had been 24 deaths at three private nursing homes between April 21 and May 26. They had been reported to the state, but not to the Albany County Department of Health.

Since they had already been included in all state metrics, it does not impact the Capital Region’s ability to transition into Phase 2 of reopening, according to Albany County Executive Dan McCoy. There were 21 women and three men; one in their 50s, two in their 70s, three in their 80s, 16 in their 90s, and two over 100.

“The nursing homes are supposed to be reporting to us too,” McCoy said.

This brings the county’s new death toll to 111.

Meanwhile, there are now 1,688 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Albany County to date, an increase of two in the last 24 hours.

Additionally, there are now 682 people under mandatory quaran

tine and 6 people under precautionary quarantine. The five-day average for new daily positives is now down to 10.2. So far, 4,510 individuals have completed quarantine, with 1,340 of them having tested positive and recovered. That brings the county’s recovery rate up to 79.38%.

The number of county residents currently hospitalized dropped from 27 to 20, bringing the hospitalization rate to 1.18% from 1.6% Friday. There are currently three people in Intensive Care Units (ICU), unchanged from Friday’s briefing.

Second Chance Opportunities, Inc. Executive Director Kellie Roe joined the county executive for the daily briefing to discuss the challenges of those dealing with drug and alcohol addictions during the pandemic without access to inperson support group meetings. “While we make progress on stopping the spread of COVID-19 in Albany County and the Capital Region, it’s critical that we don’t lose sight of some of the fallout the virus has had beyond public health,” McCoy said. “Those struggling with addiction are feeling the additional burden of not being able to meet with people who understand what they’re going through and isolation is exacerbating depression issues. We need to ensure that those who need mental health services know that they have not been forgotten about.”

“As we continue to watch the data, it’s becoming clear that our mobile testing sites are not being utilized as much as they were when we first launched the initiative. That’s why we’re expanding our criteria to get tested for essential workers and those returning to work in our minority communities. I’m also asking community leaders to help us with the outreach so these neighborhoods know that testing is available,” he added.

Second Chance Opportunities, which is tasked with helping people in recovery from substance use disorder, had to shut its doors on March 19. Since then, they have created a “virtual community” that includes daily Zoom meetings (not Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous), which can consist of group coffee breaks with a recovery coach in the morning.

They’re also offering one on one peer-to-peer support with someone who has previous experience with addictions.

Roe also said her organization has handled 50 referrals since the economic shutdown for mental and physical health services.

“The peer to peer support is really important because you are having contact with someone that has had that experience,” Roe said.

“We’re really doing as much as we can,” Roe added.