ALBANY COUNTY — This week — Albany County’s 46th dealing with COVID-19 — Governor Andrew Cuomo continued his three-track approach to the pandemic: stemming its spread, vaccinating, and reopening.

The infection rate, for both the county and the state, continued to decline from the post-holiday surge.

On Feb. 9, Albany County’s infection rate, as a seven-day rolling average, was 3.6 percent, according to the state’s dashboard. Statewide, New York’s positivity rate was 4.31.

This puts New York along with a score of other states below the 5-percent threshold that the World Health Organization advised governments to reach, and hold for 14 days, before reopening.

Those numbers are being tracked by Johns Hopkins, which, as of Wednesday evening, showed 30 states over the 5-percent threshold. Wyoming has the lowest rate at 1.22 percent. Iowa is the state with the highest infection rate at 25.97 percent.

Albany County’s hospitalization rate, like the state’s, is declining, too. But deaths continue to occur as part of the aftermath from the surge.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced 14 deaths this week related to COVID-19, from Feb. 4 through Feb.10. This brings the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 336.

“On the vaccinations, we’ve done 2.5 million total doses to date,” Cuomo said on Tuesday. “That means about 10 percent of all New Yorkers have received one dose.”

The White House has announced another 5-percent increase in allocations, Cuomo said, and the federal government will also administer a million vaccinations nationwide at federally qualified community health centers.

For reopening, Cuomo announced on Wednesday that major stadiums and arenas with a capacity of 10,000 or more people can re-open with limited spectators beginning Feb. 23.

The initiative is based on a pilot program where the Buffalo Bills’ stadium, which holds over 70,000 people was opened to about 7,000 fans who were tested for COVID-19 before the game

To re-open, sites have to get approval from the state’s health department; limit attendance to 10-percent of capacity; have attendees test negative within 72 hours before an event; mandate masks, social distancing, and temperature checks; meet filtration and air purification standards; and obtain information from spectators for contact tracing.

This followed Cuomo’s announcement on Feb. 8 of a pilot program of pop-up performances across the state, some of them free.

The pilot is a private-public partnership overseen by producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, in coordination with the New York State Council on the Arts and Empire State Development. 

NYPopsUP launches on Feb. 20 and will run through Labor Day and is to include over 1,000 performances.

“Creative synergies are vital for cities to survive, and our arts and cultural industries have been shut down all across the country, taking a terrible toll on workers and the economy,” said Cuomo in a statement, announcing the pilot program. “We want to be aggressive with reopening the state and getting our economy back on track, and NY PopsUp will be an important bridge to the broader reopening of our world-class performance venues and institutions.”

Vaccination equity

On Wednesday, the vaccine focus was on equity.

At Albany County’s press conference Wednesday morning, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan cited national news stories about vaccine venues meant for low-income communities where outsiders had come in and got the shots instead.

“There has to be a better way,” was Albany’s thought, Sheehan said, and the city turned to the Alliance for Better Health to pre-register people.

Appointments were filled in less than two days, she said, for residents of two Albany Housing Authority complexes and surrounding neighborhoods.

While 24 percent of Albany’s population is African-American, 62 percent of those vaccinated were African Americans, Sheehan said. The Hispanic population did not fare as well: 11 percent of Albany’s population is Hispanic, and 5 percent of those vaccinated in this program were Hispanic, the mayor said.

What made the difference in reaching vulnerable populations, Sheehan said, was the “soft touch” — a human being reaching out rather than a robocall or email.

Also on Wednesday, McCoy announced the county has put up its own link where residents who are essential workers can pre register for vaccinations: alb.518c19.com.

“No more Hunger Games ….,” said McCoy. “You will be guaranteed the next POD,” he said of an available slot at the county’s point of dispensing.

“There isn’t really a one-size-fits-all in getting vaccine out … Demand greatly exceeds supply,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabesth Whalen on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the county will vaccinate 1,100 essential workers and also administer 500 second doses, which Whalen stressed are held separately “with your name on it.”

Next week, the county will expand to also offer vaccinations to people with chronic illnesses, including those 65 and over with chronic illnesses.

She noted that distribution systems are evolving and urged patience.

Whalen also said it was essential to have equity as part of distribution.

Equity was Cuomo’s focus at his Wednesday press conference.

He announced that, with the help of the federal government, mass-vaccination clinics are opening at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and New York College in Queens to exclusively serve residents in those places.

New York State is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify additional sites outside of New York City to launch targeted efforts focused on vaccine equity and improving access to socially vulnerable populations, he said; each site is to vaccinate 1,000 New Yorkers per day. 

These sites will target communities and populations historically underserved by the traditional health-care system that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

The new sites will be jointly staffed by the federal government, including Army personnel, and the state, including the National Guard, Cuomo said.

He reiterated the need for such programs, stressing both the lack of access and of acceptance.

“COVID killed Black people at twice the rate of white people,” Cuomo said. “That is a fact. It is a fact that should make us uncomfortable. It is painful to say. COVID killed Hispanic people at 1.5 times the rate of white people.”

He also noted that majority-Black ZIP codes are 67 percent more likely to have a shortage of primary-care doctors. “That’s why there were underlying health conditions at a higher percentage in Black, Hispanic and poor communities,” said Cuomo. “Any American rescue plan must rescue all Americans ….”

Jeff Zients, who coordinates the Biden administration’s COVID efort, spoke at Cuomo’s video-conference press briefing as did Marcella Nunez-Smith, who heads the nation’s Health Equity Task Force.

Zients said of Joe Biden, “Soon after taking office, the president announced a comprehensive national strategy to fight the pandemic. This did not exist before …. We’ve achieved a 28 percent increase in the first three weeks of the administration.”

New York State is getting about 300,000 doses of vaccine a week.

Zients also said, “We’re putting equity front and center in this effort, partnering with states to increase vaccinations in the hardest hit and hard-to-reach communities.”

Nunez-Smith said the new sites are “partnering with community-based organizations to build trust.”

Cuomo also included “three champions for social justice” who had spoken at a press conference on Nov. 1, advocating for equity with vaccines.

“Access is one thing but, as you know, we also have a big challenge with skepticism in our communities about the vaccine,” said Al Sharpton. “Many in the African-American community don’t trust the vaccine because of past abuses like the Tuskegee experiment.

“And let’s put it out front — like the disgraceful treatment of Henrietta Lacks, like forced sterilization of women in Puerto Rico and in the South. But this vaccine is different, and we’ve had to get out there and say that.”

Sharpton said that Black churches around the country have launched a national education program to provide awareness.

“First, let’s call racism what it is ...,” urged Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “At the end of the day, we must overcome the hesitancy because of the lack of trust.”

Marc Morial, the former mayor of New Orleans and the current head of the National Urban League, said, “The Biden Administration has put science, data, and expertise first. On the trust factor, it’s been my view, and it remains my view, that we need a broader engagement effort, a communications effort to meet people where they are, provide them with information, and encourage them to make an intelligent choice about taking the vaccine.”

Newest numbers

McCoy opened Wednesday’s press conference by announcing the COVID-19-related death of a woman in her seventies.

As of Wednesday morning, Albany County has had 19,275 confirmed cases of COBVID-19, including 87 new cases.

Of the new cases, 46 did not have clear sources of infection identified, 32 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, seven were health-care workers or residents of congregate settings, and two had traveled out of state.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 95.8 from 102.6. There are now 868 active cases in the county, down from 945 on Tuesday.

The number of county residents under mandatory quarantine increased to 1,822 from 1,765. So far, 58,930 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 18,407 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 159 recoveries since Tuesday.

There were eight new hospitalizations overnight, and there are now 97 county residents currently hospitalized from the virus — a net decrease of two. There are now 12 patients in intensive-care units, down from 17 on Tuesday.

Of the state’s 10 regions, the Capital Region continues to have the worst rates for both available hospital beds and for available ICU beds.

Currently, 313 Capital Region residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is 0.03 percent of the region’s population and leaves 28 percent of its hospital beds available.

Statewide, 0.04 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with the virus, leaving 33 percent of the state’s hospital beds available.

Currently, 198 of the Capital Region’s 236 ICU beds are filled, leaving 16 percent available.

Statewide, 26 percent of ICU beds are available.