ALBANY COUNTY — Continuing a downward trend, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced 48 new cases of COVID-19 in a Sunday morning press release.

The seven-day rolling average for Albany County’s infection rate began the month of March at 1.8 and crept up as high as 2.2 percent on March 9 before sticking at 2.0 until March 13, when it decreased to 1.8 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber, in his daily emailed COVID-19 update to town residents, wrote on Sunday, “The most local number, and arguably the best, in assessing the spread of COVID-19 in our community is also improving.”

Guilderland’s Emergency Medical Services Department ambulances transported 61 COVID-19 town residents in January and 19 residents in February, Barber reported, but has transported only two residents so far in March.

“The lowest number of monthly ambulance transports of positive patients was six last July,” Barber wrote. “The two transports in March were from doctor’s offices, in contrast to January and February, where nearly all ambulance trips originated at senior care facilities and private residences.”

Statewide, the infection rate, as a seven-day average as of Saturday, was 3.1 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

Hospitalizations across New York dropped to 4,486, the first day below 4,500 since Dec. 5 and a 52-percent decrease from the mid-January peak, according to a Sunday release from the governor’s office.

Patients in intensive-care units dropped to 927, a new low since Dec. 7 and a 43-percent decrease since the mid-January peak. Intubations dropped to 619, a new low since Dec. 21, the release said. 

The 48 new cases in Albany County bring the total of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 21,281, according to McCoy’s release.

Of the new cases, 26 did not have clear sources of infection identified, 18 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, three had traveled out of state, and one was a health-care worker or resident of a congregate setting.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 53.2 from 54.2. There are now 508 active cases in the county, down from 512 on Saturday.

The number of Albany County residents under quarantine decreased to 1,283 from 1,326. So far, 67,242 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 20,773 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 47 recoveries since Saturday.

There were four new hospitalizations overnight, and there are now 24 county residents hospitalized from the virus. There are still four patients in intensive-care units.

The county’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 365.

Currently, 94 Capital Region residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, which is 0.01 percent of the region’s population and leaves 32 percent of its hospital beds available, according to a Sunday release from the governor’s office.

Statewide, 0.02 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with the disease, leaving 36 percent of the state’s hospital beds available.

However, the Capital Region once again has the worst rate for available ICU beds, at 16 percent.

Currently 205 of the region’s 241 ICU beds are filled.

Statewide, 29 percent of ICU beds are available.