Area’s virus deaths top 750
Region’s 4 main counties report multiple fatalities
The Capital Region has bypassed the 750 mark for deaths linked to coronavirus, as each of the region’s four main counties reported multiple deaths each between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rensselaer and Saratoga counties confirmed nine new deaths due to COVID -19 in their communities, according to updates published Tuesday night. Albany and Schenectady counties each reported four new deaths Wednesday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday also announced four additional cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant were found, one in Saratoga County, one in Warren County and two in Suffolk County. The new Saratoga and Warren county cases are tied to the first case linked to a Saratoga Springs jeweler earlier this month. To date, there are 22 known cases of the variant in New York.
Meanwhile, Saratoga County’s COVID-19 data dashboard shows six more coronavirus deaths since Friday, raising the county’s overall death toll from the virus to 82. That number has more than doubled since the
start of the year, when the county was reporting just 31 deaths since last March. Some of the deaths occurred in private nursing homes, but were not immediately reported.
Meanwhile, Rensselaer County announced three more deaths from coronavirus Tuesday night. The victims included a 45year-old Troy man; a 74year-old man from Rosewood Gardens, a rehabilitation and nursing facility in East Greenbush; and a 92-year-old woman from the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center in Troy. It announced two more deaths Wednesday evening.
Both Rosewood Gardens and Eddy Memorial have been battling outbreaks in recent months.
Rosewood has lost at least two residents to the virus since its outbreak began and Eddy Memorial has lost at least six, according to updates provided by the county.
Rensselaer County’s known death toll from the disease caused by coronavirus is now at least 110 — second only to Albany County’s toll in the Capital Region, which was 283 as of Wednesday.
The new fatalities in Albany County Wednesday included two men in their 50s, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s. Hospitalizations continue to hit high levels as 21 people were admitted Tuesday and Wednesday, Albany County officials said — bringing the total number hospitalized to 185 of Albany County residents alone.
New caseloads, however, continued to be below 200 in Albany County, with 173 new residents confirmed to have contracted the virus, officials said. The five-day average for new daily positives decreased from 225.4 to 201.6.
In Schenectady County, a woman in her 60s, a man in his 70s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s lost their lives after contracting coronavirus, the county announced Wednesday. The deaths raise the county’s death toll past 100 since the pandemic began.
Warren County also announced Wednesday it lost a resident to the virus.
Deaths in the Capital Region are occurring at their fastest pace yet since
March.
After the spring wave of infections resulted in the deaths of some 300 local residents, it took another five months for the region to hit 400 deaths. That was on Nov. 27. After that, it took 26 days to hit 500 deaths, 15 days to hit 600, and eight days to hit 700. At least 202 people have died so far this month, topping December’s 140death toll just 15 days into the New Year.
Albany County jail goes into lockdown
The Albany County jail will be on lockdown for the next 29 days after a recent outbreak of coronavirus among prisoners and jail staff, causing two inmates to be sent to the jail’s infirmary with more severe symptoms, said Sheriff Craig Apple.
Around 60 inmates and 25 staff members have tested positive for COVID -19, and of the approximately 330 people currently incarcerated at the jail, about 270 are in quarantine, Apple said.
“We knew once it got in here, it would spread like wildfire,” Apple said.
Most of the quarantined inmates are in individual cells. Those who have tested positive are moved to a separate building with solid doors on the cells, Apple said.
When 12 correctional officers tested positive earlier this month, Apple told the Times Union that he didn’t “expect any outbreak, whatsoever.”
Now, inmates can only communicate with their lawyers over the phone and make video visitation calls, and those who have tested positive are “being housed in the same area” of the jail, Apple said. Inmates who haven’t tested positive are also being restricted to their jail cells, Apple said.
Apple said District Attorney David Soares has released 12 inmates who were alleged to have committed low-level crimes, and they tested negative before being released, he added.
This is the first outbreak of coronavirus in the jail since the pandemic began, Apple said.
Apple previously told the Times Union that he would only test inmates if they showed symptoms. On Wednesday, he estimated that 95 percent of the inmates who tested positive were asymptomatic. WRGB Ch. 6 was the first to report the lockdown.