Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy announced today that as of this morning, there are now 739 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Albany County. Additionally, there are now 772 people under mandatory quarantine and 54 people under precautionary quarantine. Sadly, since yesterday’s briefing, there has been another COVID-19 death – a woman in her 90’s with multiple underlying health issues. This brings the total number of deaths for the county to 30. Up to this point, 1,825 individuals have completed quarantine, with 401 of them having tested positive and recovered. 

With 31 people now hospitalized, the hospitalization rate for Albany County stands at 4.19%, down from yesterday’s rate of 4.62%. Seven of those individuals are currently in Intensive Care Units (ICU), a number unchanged since yesterday. To date, Shaker Place has had 27 residents in total who have tested positive, along with 13 employees, including one staff member who has recovered and returned to work. Albany County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen joined the County Executive for the briefing to discuss some of the details of the updated numbers.

“While it’s easy to get lost in the statistics that we and Governor Cuomo announce each day, it’s important to remember that every one of these deaths is a person with a family and loved ones who couldn’t be together during their last moments. That is why we’re taking this pandemic so seriously with social distancing and quarantine-in-place guidelines, and why we will continue to do so,” said County Executive McCoy. “And while any day we lose a county resident is a sad one, the numbers we are seeing leave room for some optimism. Despite launching new testing sites in downtown Albany, Watervliet and Colonie, our daily numbers of new positive cases have stabilized without any spikes.”

Commissioner Whalen discussed the plateauing of the numbers of new positive cases of COVID-19, as Albany County sees about 20 to 30 new cases each day. The County is also not experiencing any major rise in new inpatient admissions, with a hospitalization that is relatively low. After new testing sites were opened, the rate of new positives of those who are tested has increased slightly from around 7.5% to about 9.8%.

County Executive McCoy took time to highlight the early success of the new drive-thru community testing site at Rite Aid, 1863 Central Avenue in Colonie that started yesterday thanks to a partnership with Town Supervisor Paula Mahan, Rite Aid and the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. Testing is free for those who are eligible based on CDC guidelines and are at least 18 years old. It will be available between 9am and 5pm, seven days a week by appointment only. Registration is now available at www.riteaid.com. Tests will be conducted from within an individual’s car with self-swab nasal tests and with the help of a pharmacist.

County Executive McCoy also highlighted the walk-up and mobile COVID-19 testing sites that he launched with the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Health Center last week at locations across downtown Albany and in Watervliet. Testing is currently available at Whitney M. Young, Jr. Health Center at 920 Lark Drive in Albany, Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm. The remainder of this week’s rotating schedule and locations of the three mobile testing sites can be found below, with next week’s schedule to be posted soon. To date, over 300 people have been tested at these sites. All testing is done by appointment only and after being screened for symptoms over the phone by calling the Whitney Young, Jr. Health Center at 518-465-4771. Weekly schedules are posted to the Albany County website here.

• Thursday, April 23, 1:30–4:00pm
  Watervliet Health Center, 1804 Second Avenue, Watervliet
• Friday, April 24, 12noon–4:00pm 
  Capital South Campus, 20 Warren Street, Albany

During the briefing, the County Executive thanked the New York National Guard, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Times Union Center for working with Albany County to ensure people under mandatory quarantine have the food needed to sustain them. Since the initiative began, nearly 2,000 boxes of food have been sent to more than 1,660 households across Albany County.

Additionally, County Executive McCoy thanked Tom Nardacci and the Troy Innovation Garage for hosting an online town hall yesterday, which brought together electeds, business owners, community leaders and others to discuss strategies for pulling the Capital Region economy out of the doldrums of the pandemic and economic shutdown.

For those experiencing stress, anxiety or depression while confined to their homes for extended periods of time, the Albany County COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line is available seven days a week from 8am to 8pm at (518) 269-6634. Anyone experiencing a psychiatric emergency should still call the Albany County Mobile Crisis Team at (518) 549–6500.

The County Executive continues to offer online videos on coping, crafts and reading, AAU karate, exercise, proper use of personal protective equipment and more.

Daily briefings are recorded and may be seen with slides on AlbanyCounty.com, the County’s Facebook page, public access channels—Open Stage Media in Schenectady and Channel Albany in the city of Albany and on Capitol OTB—Channel 1250 Spectrum and Channel 467 on Fios.

For all COVID-19 questions and concerns, including issues with price gouging and fraudulent products, residents are encouraged to use United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline as well as the State Department of Health’s hotline at 888-364-3065.