COVID death toll rises

Despite nearly 50% having had at least 1 shot, cases rise

Despite nearly half having had at least one vaccination shot in Albany County, cases have trended upward.

The county lost a man in his 60s and a woman in her 70s due to COVID-19 — continuing a troubling trend of deaths reemerging again as vaccination levels increase.

“We need to continue to move forward to protect our most vulnerable in the community and to keep the virus from taking lives,” Albany County Executive Dan Mccoy said in a statement Sunday. “That means getting more shots into arms. Albany County is closing in on nearly 50 percent of our population having at least the first dose of the vaccine. We need to keep up that pace.”

In mid-to-late March, Albany County noted two weeks with no coronavirus deaths. Then, it recorded three deaths over three weeks between March 28 and April 16. The county has now lost 371 people to the virus.

Other places are also seeing increasing numbers of deaths. On Wednesday, Warren County reported that after a nearly two-month streak without any coronavirus deaths, a woman, who did not live in a congregate setting, fell ill with the disease and was ultimately hospitalized before her death.

On Sunday, New York reported 35 deaths statewide, a figure that has gone down since last week. The majority of those deaths, 27, happened in Westchester, New York City and Long Island.

The five-day average for new positive coronavirus cases in Albany County has increased from 60 to 64.6, as 70 more cases were confirmed from Saturday.

Albany County’s seven-day average of percentage of people testing positive is outpacing the Capital Region, with 2.9 percent of county residents testing positive, compared to the region’s 2.3 percent.

There were six new hospitalizations overnight in Albany County and 29 residents hospitalized Sunday from the virus. Also, there were seven patients in the ICU, up from six Saturday.

Meanwhile as of Saturday, 48.4 percent of Albany County’s population had received at least a first dose of coronavirus vaccine, and 34.3 percent had been fully vaccinated. That compares to the statewide first dose vaccination rate of 40.2 percent, and full vaccination rate of 27 percent.

Warren County, which puts out daily coronavirus updates, said Sunday that the majority of its recent cases involve younger people (it did not specify an age), and none of the people making up its eight new cases Sunday were vaccinated.

“To date, just eight of Warren County’s 23,941 fully vaccinated residents have tested positive for COVID-19,” its statement said.

Rensselaer County to host pop-up vaccination clinics

The county is holding COVID-19 vaccination clinics for its residents Monday and Tuesday for which people can register.

Monday’s clinic will be held at the Rensselaer Volunteer Ambulance Garage, and Tuesday’s will be held at the North Hoosick Fire Department, county officials announced Sunday.

Each clinic is open to Rensselaer County residents 16 years of age and older and will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Rensselaer Volunteer Ambulance Garage is located at 901 Third St., Rensselaer. North Hoosick Fire Department is at 22106 State Route 22, Hoosick Falls.

The county will be administering the Moderna vaccine.

To register, visit the county’s website at https:// www.rensco.com/ or call 518270-0450.

Walk-ins will also be accepted.