ALBANY COUNTY — As the Omicron wave appears to have crested statewide this week, COVID tests here were still in high demand since upstate areas like Albany County had higher infection rates than downstate areas.
“So, here’s the news flash: Turning the corner. You heard it here first, I’ve been waiting to say that,” Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday afternoon at a news conference at the University at Albany as she displayed a graph showing new COVID-19 infections are decreasing. 

She said the highest point was a week ago with 90,000 cases. On Friday, there were 49,000 positive tests as a seven-day average statewide, which Hochul termed “a very positive trend.”

Albany County appears to have reached its high of new cases reported in a single day on Jan. 13 with 1,586 positive cases, announced on Friday by Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

The county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, has long noted that hospitalizations follow infections a week or more later, which are then followed by deaths. The county suffered 12 COVID-related deaths this week.

Health experts worldwide have indicated that the pattern with the highly contagious Omicron variant, which appears to cause a milder infection, is a dramatic spike in cases followed by a rapid descent, as happened in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

At a White House press briefing on Jan. 12, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky shared results from a Kaiser Permanente study in southern California that showed, when compared to Delta, infections with Omicron were associated with a 53 percent reduction in adjusted risk of symptomatic hospitalization, a 74 percent reduction in adjusted risk of ICU admission, and a 91 percent reduction in adjusted risk of mortality. No patients with Omicron in the study required mechanical ventilation.

Hochul on Friday noted the state’s new-case numbers do not include home tests.

Albany County has set up a link on its website for residents to report positive at-home tests but there is no guarantee they will.

Since the county’s self-reporting portal went live on Dec. 29, over 16,200 positive at-home and lab-based tests were identified to the county and only an estimated 1,000 were duplicates, McCoy  reported in a release on Wednesday morning.

It was easier this week to get appointments at the two state testing sites in Albany County while over 2,000 test kits — one per child — distributed by the Guilderland schools on Friday went quickly; the schools couldn’t use all the tests they were given before their expiration dates.

The state’s two free testing sites in Albany County are:

— At Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, in the former Ruby Tuesday restaurant. Run by WellNorth, the site offers both rapid antigen and PCR tests. Appointments can be booked at https://www.gogettested.com/; and

— At the uptown University at Albany campus, in the Colonial Dining Hall at 1400 Washington Ave., run by Quadrant biosciences. The site administers an “oral, saliva based” PCR test, which can be booked here.

Polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests are sent to a lab to screen for the presence of viral RNA, which is detectable in the body before antibodies form or symptoms of the disease are present; PCR tests may also come back positive after symptoms have faded. Antigen tests, which show results in 15 minutes without a lab, are best at identifying COVID-19 when symptoms are present.

On Friday, the federal government opened a website — covidtests.gov — that started taking orders on Tuesday, a day ahead of schedule; every household in the United States is eligible to order four free at-home tests. Orders will usually ship in seven to 12 days, the site says, which may be past the surge in New York.

The federal site also says that health insurance companies, starting on Jan. 15, are to pay for eight at-home tests per month for each person on a plan.

“The test will either be free directly at the point of sale, if your health plan provides for direct coverage, or by reimbursement if you are charged for your test,” the site says. “Be sure to keep your receipt if you need to submit a claim to your insurance company for reimbursement …. Insurance companies are required to reimburse you at a rate of up to $12 per individual test (or the cost of the test, if less than $12).”

President Joe Biden said last Thursday that his administration would purchase 500 million more tests in addition to the original 500 million he had spoken of in December.

While downstate case numbers are trending down, Hochul noted on Friday, “Upstate is still not out of the woods yet.” Areas with lower vaccination rates tend to have higher hospitalization rates.

Elective surgeries continue to be suspended in the Finger Lakes, Central New York, and the Mohawk Valley.

Jackie Bray, acting commissioner for Homeland Security and Emergency Services, reported that 80 ambulance crews supplied by the federal government are currently at work in New York State — 30 upstate and 50 downstate — and that 30 more were set to arrive on Sunday.

Acting Health Commissioner Mary Bassett stressed that COVID vaccines are “entirely free,” urging that everyone, especially children, be vaccinated.

Bassett on Friday also announced that the federal Department of Health and Human Services extended the public health emergency first opened in March 2020 from June 16 further for another 90 days.

“The New York State of Health, which is New York’s official health plan marketplace, will remain open for enrollment as it has been since March 2020, and will continue to be open for enrollment throughout the public health emergency,” said Bassett.

Describing it as a “one-stop shop,” Bassett said the marketplace offers both public and private health-insurance options.

“When many people lost their jobs and with it, their health insurance, or lost income … we’ve had a huge surge of enrollment during the pandemic with 1.5 million New Yorkers added to the New York State of Health rolls,” said Bassett.

The number of uninsured New Yorkers has been cut in half, across every racial and ethnic group, she said. “This is a huge accomplishment, but we still have about 900,000 New Yorkers who don’t have coverage and at least half of them are eligible for it.”

New Yorkers who want to get coverage for March 1 have to enroll by Feb. 15. There are subsidies available so that the cost of health insurance can be greatly reduced, Bassett said.

Bassett also said she is convening scientists from around the state to discuss long COVID. “We don’t know much yet about Omicron and long COVID,” she said.

Mask guidance

On Jan. 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for masks and respirators, clarifying that “some types of masks and respirators provide more protection to the wearer than others” and also that “‘surgical N95s’ are a specific type of respirator that should be reserved for healthcare settings.”

The CDC continues to maintain that masking is a critical public-health tool for preventing spread of COVID-19, and that any mask is better than no mask. Also, the CDC says, masks must be worn properly and fit well to be effective.

The federal government is going to ship nonsurgical N95 masks to health centers and pharmacies, to be available to the public for free at the end of next week, according to a White House statement.

Masks are made to contain droplets and particles you breathe, cough, or sneeze out, the CDC says. If they fit closely to the face, they can also provide you some protection from particles spread by others.

Respirators are made to protect you by filtering the air and fitting closely on the face to filter out particles, including the virus that causes COVID-19, the CDC says. Respirators can also contain droplets and particles you breathe, cough, or sneeze out so you do not spread them to others.

Respirators, which have better filtration than masks, are recommended, for example, when caring for someone sick with COVID-19, when traveling on a plane, when someone is at increased risk, when working closely with the public, or when not vaccinated.

Some masks are designed and tested to ensure they perform at a consistent level. They are labeled to show they meet standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials or workplace performance or performance plus standards set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

These are new standards. Lists of masks that meet these standards and more information on their availability can be found on the NIOSH Personal Protective Equipment Information (PPE-Info) webpage.

Short staff in nursing homes

In a 5-to-4 vote on Jan. 13, the United States Supreme Court decided that the Biden administration’s mandate for health-care workers at facilities receiving federal funds to be vaccinated could stand. (At the same time, in a 6-to-3 vote, the court blocked the vaccine-or-testing mandate for big employers.)

The American Health Care Association, representing more than 14,000 nursing homes and long-term care facilities across the country, responded with a statement from its president and chief executive officer, Mark Parkinson, that “the repercussions of the vaccine mandate among health care workers will be devastating to an already decimated long term care workforce.”

Parkinson went on, “When we are in the midst of another COVID surge, caregivers in vaccine hesitant communities may walk off the job because of this policy, further threatening access to care for thousands of our nation’s seniors.”

Many nursing homes were already experiencing acute staffing shortages. Parkinson’s organization says that the profession has lost more than 230,000 caregivers — nearly 15 percent of the workforce – since the beginning of the pandemic.

Parkinson asked for leniency and a testing option for unvaccinated workers and said that 83 percent of nursing home staff are now fully vaccinated.

“However,” Parkinson concluded, “rampant misinformation has sowed doubt and concern among many on the frontlines. We must collectively address the root cause of vaccine hesitancy rather than penalize providers who are making valiant efforts.”

Parkinson’s organization also issued a report this week showing, with the Omicron surge, current infection rates of nursing-home staff far exceed last year’s surge; residents also experienced a surge — but just a fraction of the deaths suffered last year, presumably due to vaccination.

In New York State, Hochul issued a directive last fall requiring all health-care workers to be vaccinated. 

At midnight on Monday, Sept. 27, a state mandate went into effect, requiring health-care workers in hospitals and nursing homes across New York to be vaccinated. Hospital and nursing-home workers were furloughed or let go if not vaccinated.

National Guard members — including at Albany County’s nursing home — have been deployed to make up for staff shortages at some facilities.

Virtual meetings

Also this week, Hochul signed into law a bill to “permit any public body to hold meetings remotely and without in-person access during the COVID-19 state disaster emergency.”

Without the extension, village, town, and school boards would have had to return to in-person meetings.

Some local boards are meeting in public, with residents in attendance, although they have the option not to.

Eviction moratorium ends

New York’s final extension on prohibiting evictions ran out on Saturday, Jan. 15.

On Thursday, Hochul had announced that New York State was joining California, New Jersey, and Illinois, calling on the federal government to prioritize additional rental relief funding for high tenant states that have exhausted their initial federal allocation.

New York State has issued more than $1.3 billion in rent relief, totaling more than 104,000 payments to landlords. In total, the state has obligated all $2 billion in available funding, covering roughly 161,000 applications and leaving roughly 85,000 unfunded.

Despite the funding shortfall, the state was legally compelled to fully reopen its application portal last week following a court injunction.

“As Governors representing over a quarter of America’s population and 30 percent of the nation’s low-income renter households, the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program has been a crucial lifeline for millions of our residents as the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt,” wrote Hochul, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in a letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

The Democratic governors urged, as guidelines are developed for a second round of Emergency Rental Assistance, that unspent funds are quickly recaptured, that grantee demand be accurately captured, and that communities with the greatest need be prioritized.

“This methodology factors in a grantee’s share of very low-income renter households paying more than 50 percent of income on rent, overcrowding, rental market costs, and change in employment since the beginning of the pandemic,” the governors wrote.

Under Hochul’s direction, the governor’s office wrote in a release, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance requested $996 million in reallocation funds from the Treasury, which would have funded tens of thousands of additional applicants. Yet late last month, the Treasury indicated that New York would receive $27 million from its initial reallocation — less than 3 percent of the state's request and enough to fund approximately 1,960 applications.

“From the start of my administration, I pledged to deliver relief to struggling tenants and landlords who were still recovering from the pandemic,” said Hochul in a statement. “Since then, we’ve issued more than $1.3 billion in rent relief out the door, made $100 million in rent supplements available, signed an increase in rental voucher amounts into law, invested $25 million for free legal services for tenants, and unveiled a number of bold, achievable proposals to address systemic housing needs.

“However, the harsh reality is that there are still too many New Yorkers in need of housing assistance. We were disappointed in the amount of additional rental relief funds available from the U.S. Treasury to be reallocated to New York, and given that our Emergency Rental Assistance Program portal already reopened this week, I am asking the Treasury to revisit its process. It is crucial that we not give struggling tenants and landlords false hope for long-awaited financial relief when — without federal intervention — there is no funding to support them, and I thank California, New Jersey, and Illinois for joining us in this important effort.”

Albany County

Albany County Executive McCoy reported another 12 deaths related to the virus this week, the county’s 97th in coping with the coronavirus. The latest victims were two women and a man in their forties, two men in their fifties, two women and a man in their sixties, a man in his seventies, two men in their eighties, and a woman in her nineties.

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 493.

On Wednesday morning, McCoy also announced 496 new cases of COVID-19. 

This number, however, does not include untested patients, as tests remain in short supply. It also does not include people who have tested positive at home but not reported the results through the county’s website.

Statewide, the governor’s office reported on Tuesday, the average positive case numbers are declining with 51,264 on Monday, down from the peak of 90,132 on Jan. 7.

The infection rate statewide on Monday was 12.9 percent, down from the Jan. 2 peak of 23.2 percent.

Still, Johns Hopkins, which has been tracking positivity rates across the United States since the spring of 2020, reported on Tuesday that no states were below the 5-percent threshold set by the World Health Organization.

On May 12, 2020, the WHO advised governments that before reopening, rates of positivity in testing  — that is, out of all tests conducted, how many came back positive for COVID-19 — should remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

On Wednesday morning, McCoy reported that Albany County had a seven-day average infection rate of 17.3 percent, and a seven-day average of cases per 100,000 of 189.8.

The county’s health department is no longer calling infected patients because of the overwhelming number of cases so the county is no longer releasing numbers on quarantines.

Rather, those with positive results are advised to follow isolation protocols on the county’s website and to tell people with whom they have been in contact and who therefore may become infected so that those exposed people may quarantine.

Because of this change in policy from the state, local schools, like the Guilderland district, have changed their policies accordingly.

Guilderland “will only conduct contact tracing in a limited and targeted capacity,” wrote Superintendent Marie Wiles in a notice on Tuesday, such as exposures during lunch or during certain high-risk sports or where there are reduced mitigation strategies. The district will continue to report cases to the New York State COVID-19 Report Card daily.

There were 18 new hospitalizations on Tuesday, McCoy reported on Wednesday, and there are now 121 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus. Twelve of those hospital patients are in intensive-care units, up from 11 on Tuesday.

Peter Barber, Guilderland’s supervisor, reported on Tuesday, in his daily COVID email to update town residents, that Guilderland’s ambulances transported nine COVID-19 patients in December, and so far, have made six transports in January, including one on Tuesday. 

In comparison, Barber wrote, there were no COVID transports by town ambulances in June and July, eight in August, four in September, four in October, and two in November. “Town ambulances have made 313 transports of COVID residents since the start of the pandemic,” Barber said.

“We’re still not out of the woods,” said McCoy in his Wednesday release as he encouraged residents to get vaccinated; over a quarter of county residents are not fully vaccinated.