Two counties report deaths from COVID-19

Albany toll is 389 dead, Columbia’s is at 97 from virus

Albany and Columbia counties each reported the death of one of its residents Thursday from COVID-19.

The Albany County death, a woman in her 80s, brings the total to 389 deaths since the pandemic began, officials said Friday. The county also reported 78 new coronavirus cases from Thursday.

The Columbia County Health Department said the 97th death in the county from COVID was the first virus death in the county since early June. The Health Department also announced 17 new cases of COVID-19, with 57 cases currently active and eight people in the hospital.

The numbers are similar to those seen in mid-april, when the virus count was falling from its winter peak. Still, the current count is far less than figures seen in mid-january, when the county was dealing with as many as 500 active cases at a time, with more than 30 people hospitalized on any given day.

Columbia County Health Director Jack Mabb said in a statement that most infected people did not know where they contracted the virus.

“It seems to be settling in entire families — if one family member gets it, they all seem to get it. The delta variant is clearly a much more contagious strain than what we were dealing with before,” Mabb said.

About 60 percent of Columbia County residents are fully vaccinated, according to figures from the New York Forward Dashboard, though those under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine. That is slightly

The delta variant is clearly a much more contagious strain than what we were dealing with before.”

— Jack Mabb, Columbia County Health Director

higher than the vaccination rate for the state as a whole, which sits at 58.6 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Thursday, 68.2 percent of Albany County’s population has received at least the first dose, and 62.9 percent has been fully vaccinated, County Executive Dan Mccoy said.