ALBANY COUNTY — Last year, more than 24,000 people in Albany County sought assistance from the 30 pantries in the county that come under the umbrella of The Food Pantries for the Capital District, according to its executive director, Natasha Pernicka.

The network, which includes 65 pantries, has provided 3,000 meals since July to residents who are homebound during the pandemic, either because they were quarantined or because they are vulnerable, she said.

The need has not let up.

Albany County, with a population of roughly 300,000, has about 31,000 people who are considered food insecure, said Pernicka.

“So that still leaves a gap of about 7,000 people who are food insecure — meaning they don’t have regular access to healthy food — and they’re not utilizing food pantries so that’s why service coordination is so important,” she said.

One in 10 households in New York State suffer from food insecurity, which is about 4.5 million New Yorkers, said Pernicka, speaking at the county’s Monday morning COVID-19 briefing.

The demand for food has remained constant during the 12 months of the pandemic. “Our base level of need has remained consistent throughout,” said Pernicka.

Having federal food benefits increased to the maximum level has helped, she said. Also, she said, “When stimulus money goes out, people are feeling OK for a while.”

Use of food pantries was the highest during the initial shutdown, she said.

“We are expecting this will impact our lower-income community members for years as we wait for the jobs to return,” she added.

Even before the pandemic, the need for food pantries was obvious. “In the Capital District, in a regular year, there’s 65,000 people who seek assistance from pantries,” said Pernicka.

“There’s more than 40 percent of our community members that are either living in poverty or they might be working but they don’t have enough resources to make ends meet so, when we talk about hunger and getting people food … it is critical, number one, for all people who are working to have living wages,” she said.

 Another key component to abating hunger, Pernicka said, is a range of federal nutrition programs — like SNAP, which stands for the the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly called food stamps; WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; and the school lunch programs.

“We need to have strong federal support programs and New York State should really invest more than a billion dollars to connect New Yorkers facing food insecurity with SNAP, WIC, and other resources,” Parnicka said.

During the pandemic, Pernicka said, her organization has built some stronger partnerships.

The state has come up with some programs to bring fresh New York agricultural products to some pantries, she said.

Launched in April, Nourish New York provides funding to New York’s food banks and other emergency food providers for the direct purchase of New York-produced fruits, vegetables, and dairy products to feed those in need.

Earlier this month, the State Senate passed a bill to establish Nourish New York as a permanent state program through the Department of Agriculture and Markets. 

To date, food banks have purchased a total of 21 million pounds of surplus agricultural products from New York farmers and delivered to more than 1.3 million food-insecure households across the state, according to a release from Senator Michelle Hinchey, who introduced the bill.

“It has provided an invaluable source of funds to purchase first quality New York State agricultural products, helping farmers and producers who were badly hurt by the pandemic and putting nutritious food on the table for hungry people throughout the state,” said Mark Quandt of Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in a statement, supporting the bill.

While half of the food pantries in Pernicka’s network saw increased use since the start of the pandemic, all of them are understaffed, she said. Many of the original volunteers were elderly or considered vulnerable.

Able-bodied volunteers are needed for typical pantry services, she said, as well as for home deliveries.

As of March 1, food-pantry workers became eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.

Food pantries are also in need of contributions, Pernicka said. She said that monetary contributions can go further than donated goods bought in a grocery store because the pantries can purchase food for less money at the food bank.

“Food and funding are both needed,” she said.

“We’ve been very fortunate that the community has really rallied around hunger,” said Pernicka, adding that the biggest challenge is mobilizing volunteers.

Someone can get trained for a specific task, she said, and volunteer to show up once or twice a week; a long-term volunteer commitment is needed.

TheFoodPantries.org has a map that shows where food can be found. It also has tabs for donating and for volunteering. People who would like to volunteer also may call at 518-458-1167.

“Donate, if you can, when you get your stimulus check,” urged County Executive Daniel McCoy.

Vaccination

McCoy noted that over 34,000 people had preregistered for vaccinations through the county at alb.518c19.com.

“We’ve pretty much been exhausting that list,” said McCoy, noting that other vaccination clinics have been drawing from it.

Albany County, with partners, has so far distributed 16,595 first doses of vaccine and 4,211 second doses — for a total of 20,806.

The county’s own point of dispensing, or POD, at the Times Union Center in Albany, has administered 10,577 first doses and 4,141 second doses.

So far, Albany County has been given Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses, which each require two shots several weeks apart.

This week, McCoy said, “We’re getting 500 of the J&J, which is great.”

The vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, which was recently given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, requires just one shot.

McCoy said that the county will try to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for homebound residents “because it’s easier than coming back with a double shot,” he said.

He also said, “If you get a slot … take the one that’s available.”

According to the state’s vaccine tracker, as of Monday evening, 28.3 percent of Albany County’s residents have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Statewide, 22.5 percent of New Yorkers have received at least one dose while 11.6 percent have completed a vaccine series.

The state is in its 13th week of getting vaccine doses through the federal government and cumulatively has received 7.3 million doses.

“The quicker we get to that 70 percent,” said McCoy, referencing a percentage of population for herd immunity, “the quicker we get away from masks, the quicker we get back to some type of normalcy.”

Newest numbers

“We’re all going in the right direction,” said McCoy at the start of Monday’s press briefing as he announced the latest tallies.

Albany County has had 21,336 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 57 new cases, McCoy said.

Of the new cases, 31 did not have clear sources of infection identified, 22 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, and four were health-care workers or residents of congregate settings.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 52.4 from 53.2. There are now 498 active cases in the county, down from 508 on Sunday.

The number of Albany County residents under quarantine decreased to 1,191 from 1,283. So far, 67,430 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 20,838 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 65 recoveries since Sunday.

There were four new hospitalizations overnight, and there are now 29 county residents hospitalized from the virus — a net increase of five. There are still four patients in intensive-care units, unchanged from Sunday.

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 365.

Once again, the Capital Region has among the worst rates in the state for available hospital beds and the worst rate for available ICU beds although many more hospital beds are now available than when St. Peter’s Health Partners set up overflow hospital rooms in an unused portion of Albany County’s nursing home, which have never been used.

Currently, 104 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 Monday press release from the governor’s office.

Only New York City has a worse rate, with 0.03 percent of its population hospitalized with the virus and 31 percent of its beds available.

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

Currently, the Capital Region has 203 of its 236 ICU beds filled, leaving 16 percent available.

Statewide, 29 percent of ICU beds are available.

Statewide, as of Sunday, as a seven-day rolling average, Albany County has an infection rate of 1.7 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

Statewide, New York has an infection rate, also as of Sunday as a seven-day average, of 3.2 percent.