ALBANY COUNTY — On Thursday, the state announced $100 million more in food assistance for March as the governor announced three new short-term mass-vaccination sites to administer the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The three new sites — at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, Genesee Community College in Batavia, and Jamestown Community College in Olean — are open to all eligible New Yorkers regardless of where they live.

The sites, which open Friday, will each administer 3,500 Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

Residents who want to check their eligibility for the vaccine and sign up for a shot at a state-run facility may go online to am-i-eligible or call the state vaccine hotline at 1-833-697-4829.

These new Johnson & Johnson sites are in addition to the three announced on March 2 at Yankee Stadium and the Javits Center in New York City and at the State Fair in Syracuse.

“Following a discussion with the White House COVID-19 Task Force, New York is taking measures to distribute the state’s allocation of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as quickly as possible, as states have been informed there will be a lag in the following week’s allocation,” according to a Thursday release from the governor’s office.

The Food and Drug Administration gave the green light for emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson for its COVID-19 vaccine, which requires just one shot and doesn’t need ultra-cold storage.

The two vaccines previously available required two shots several weeks apart: Pfizer-BioNtech after 21 days and Moderna after 28 days.

“This is a single-dose regimen, which will be attractive to a lot of people,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Monday’s county press briefing.

“It, like the others, has undergone rigorous clinical trials. It is safe and effective,” said Whalen. “In terms of the efficacy, we know Moderna and Pfizer are in the 90 percentiles for the level they can protect you against severe disease and death. So those are very reassuring numbers.

“The Johnson & Johnson vaccine in trials in the United States has shown about a 72 percent efficacy. This is still very strong efficacy,” she said, noting that, for a flu vaccine, 70 percent “would be a good number.”

Whalen said that a level of about 70 percent is needed for herd immunity.

The numbers cited by Whalen refer to trial participants who got even mild cases of COVID-19.

Of the roughly 22,000 people who received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine in trials leading up to its emergency authorization, the number of people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 was zero, the number of people who died from COVID-19 was zero, and the number of people who died from the vaccine was zero.

The trials for Moderna (with roughly 15,000 people) and Pfizer (about 18,600 people) also showed zero in those same three categories. These original trials were conducted, unlike Johnson & Johnson’s,   before some of the recent variants had emerged.

The state is expecting 164,800 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be delivered this week, according to the governor’s office.

New York State is in its 12th week of receiving vaccine doses from the federal government and so far has received 5,515,260 doses.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday, in a release, that 16 percent of New Yorkers have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Capital Region has administered 307,808 of the 340,860 doses it has received this week, which is 90.3 percent, the release said.

$100 million more in food assistance

The state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance announced on Thursday that all New Yorkers enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP and formerly called food stamps, will receive the maximum allowable level of food benefits for March.

Roughly half of all households participating in SNAP will get the supplemental allotment later this month, which will result in an infusion of roughly $100 million into the state’s economy, according to a release from the office.

All SNAP recipients will continue to receive a 15-percent increase to benefits for March, which will be reflected in their normal monthly allotment. With the 15-percent increase included, the maximum benefit level for an individual is $234 and $782 for a family of four.

Federal legislation adopted in December provides for this increase to continue each month through June.

Since last spring, more than $1.2 billion in additional benefits have been distributed in New York State. As of December 2020, there were more than 2.7 million SNAP recipients throughout the state, a 6.7-percent increase from the same month in 2019.

A recent federal study quantifying the impact of SNAP on the United States economy found that every dollar invested in food benefits can generate up to $1.54 in economic activity. The study also found that an additional $1 billion invested in new SNAP benefits could support roughly 13,560 jobs nationwide.

Newest numbers

As of Thursday morning, Albany County has had 20,707 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 45 new cases since Wednesday, according to a release from Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

Of the new cases, 28 did not have clear sources of infection identified, 14 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, two reported traveling out of state, and one was a health-care worker or resident of congregate settings.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 57.6 from 62.8. There are now 539 active cases in the county, down from 561 on Wednesday.

The number of Albany County residents under mandatory quarantine jumped to 1,613 from 1,478. So far, 64,884 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 20,168 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 66 recoveries since Wednesday.

There were two new hospitalizations overnight, and there are now 35 county residents hospitalized from the virus — a net decrease of six. There are currently four patients in intensive-care units, one fewer than on Wednesday.

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 358.

Currently, the Capital Region has 118 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which is 0.01 percent of the region’s population and leaves 34 percent of its hospital beds available, according to a Thursday release from the governor’s office.

Statewide, 0.03 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with the virus, leaving 35 percent of the state’s hospital beds available.

Currently, 190 of the Capital Region’s 241 ICU beds are filled, leaving 19 percent available, the worst rate in the state.

Statewide, 29 percent of ICU beds are available.

The statewide infection rate is 2.81 percent, the lowest since Nov 21, according to a Thursday release from the governor’s office.

As of Wednesday, as a seven-day average, the state’s positivity rate was 3.12 percent.

The Capital Region’s infection rate was 1.88 percent.

Albany County, as of Wednesday, as a seven-day rolling average, had an infection rate of 1.9 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.