Hospitalizations in Albany County hit high with 44
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy confirmed two new COVID-19 linked deaths on Wednesday, a woman in her 80s and a woman in her 70s, bringing the death toll to 149 since March.
He also announced the highest total of county resident hospitalizations since COVID-19 pandemic tracking began in March. During his Wednesday morning press briefing, McCoy noted the county saw 10 new hospitalizations overnight and residents presently hospitalized rose to 44. There are 11 patients in the ICU and the hospitalization rate increased to 0.94%.
The news comes a day after it was announced the eight Capital Region hospitals have reactivated their Incident Command. As of Tuesday, there were 125 patients are admitted across the eight Capital Region hospitals for COVID-19.
According to an update Tuesday from Albany Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Dennis McKenna, Albany Med. is caring for 39 patients, with 27 on the floor, 12 in the ICU, and two on ventilators. Those hospitalization numbers for Albany Med. represent the highest since early May. Patients at Albany Med. are now
being masked for enhanced safety of hospital staff.
“When we talk about the seriousness of the second wave of COVID-19, it’s not just the number of new cases and percent positive rates. What keeps me up at night is the rising numbers of residents being hospitalized and losing their lives to the virus. We now have 44 people in the hospital from our county alone, the most we’ve ever had since the outbreak started more than eightmonths ago,” McCoy stated on the alarming trend.
“Nine of the patients out of the hospitalized are between the age of 25 and 49. There’s 21 between the age of 50 and 74. And then there’s 14 that are over 75,” McCoy continued on how all different levels of ages are being affected by the virus.
“We also have the highest number of patients in the ICU since April 15. We need to do more to ensure our regional hospitals don’t become overwhelmed,” McCoy added.
“We do not want to see in Albany County what we have seen in other counties throughout the country with concerns around hospital capacity to be able to handle sick patients,” Albany County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen remarked on the concerning rise in hospitalizations.
Whalen urged the public to adhere to preventive public health hygiene protocols, including mask wearing, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings.
Whalen also encouraged residents to obtain their flu shots as another important preventative health measure.
The county executive confirmed 96 new positive cases. Encompassed within the new cases, 46 remained obstinate and refused to cooperate with contact tracers in revealing their source of infection, 37 had close contact with other positive cases, 15 are from the City of Cohoes. Ten are healthcare workers or residents of congregate settings and four traveled out of state.
Additionally, the county has 720 active cases and 1,881 people under mandatory quarantine.