ALBANY COUNTY — As Albany County experienced its fourth COVID-19 death this week — a woman in her fifties — Governor Kathy Hochul was in Buffalo, her home turf, announcing plans for unvaccinated school staff to be tested weekly and also plans to administer booster shots through local health departments.

SPARROW BUSH, N.Y. — Christine Austria is someone who never became a  cynic.
She always thought the best of people.

“Think about the typical kindergarten teacher,” said her son Ruben Austria,  which is what she was, “and I don’t mean like she treated [people] like children.” 

An unvaccinated Marin County teacher had COVID symptoms on May 19 but continued to teach, testing positive for the virus on May 21. A total of 27 cases were identified, according to a study posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC produced a chart showing where her 24 students sat (22 of them were tested); those closest to the teacher, in the front row, were all infected.

On Saturday, the county’s executive, Daniel McCoy, reported on the death of a woman in her seventies; on Sunday, he reported a man in his fifties and a man in his sixties had died.

Albany County has 142,884 households; more than a third — 52,331 households — are low-income. About the same number — 52,702 households — are rental. Nearly a quarter of Albany County’s households — 33,695 — are low-income rental households and nearly a seventh of the county’s households — 20,135 — are low-income, rent-burdened households.

ALBANY COUNTY — For the second time in as many weeks, another Albany County resident has died of COVID-19.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy made the announcement in a Saturday morning press release. This brings the county’s death toll from the virus to 390.

Frank Mauriello, Minority Leader; Paul Burgdorf, Deputy Minority Leader; Legislator Todd Drake; Legislator Mark Grimm; Legislator Patrice Lockart; Legislator Jeff Perlee; Legislator Peter Tunny; Legislator Jennifer Whalen

Campbell Schoenfeld, The Borgen Project

ALBANY COUNTY — Long-held anticipation was answered this week as on Monday, the Food and and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech, and on Tuesday New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, said fighting

“There are billions in federal aid to help renters who fell behind on payments in the pandemic, but this money isn’t getting to them,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a statement releasing a report, “New York State Rent Relief Funding.” The state’s moratorium on evictions ends on Aug. 31.