ALBANY COUNTY — The emphasis in the county’s 57th week of containing the coronavirus was on youth — getting teens vaccinated and how best to keep kids safe at school

The state launched a program to vaccinate college students, at both private and state schools, and also announced graduation ceremonies can be held in-person this year as long as regulations on capacity and admittance are followed.

On April 9, the state’s health department updated its guidance for distancing at schools, based on recommendations adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March. Schools will be left to decide, based on the community’s risk tolerance, how they’ll proceed.

Vaccination

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy made a direct plea to the county’s youngest adults last Thursday, urging them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Register, get you shot,” he urged at his morning press briefing.

As the federal government is increasing its allocation of vaccine doses to states, McCoy said, “If you want the shot, you’ll be able to get the shot. There’ll be no excuse.”

He noted that while young adults are not often hospitalized they “sure as heck are spreading it.”

Between Feb. 12 and April 6, he said, county residents in the 10- to 19-year-old age group had 425 infections, an increase of 23.4 percent. During the same period, residents in their twenties accounted for almost 1,000 new COVID-19 cases, an increase of 23.5 percent.

“Please don’t let your guard down,” said McCoy.

This week, the county partnered with several area colleges, administering 1,200 shots in total, McCoy said.

On Saturday, the first high school vaccine clinic was held, in Bethlehem, with Crestwood Pharmacy, vaccinating over 400 students, which McCoy termed a “huge success.”

Any New Yorker 16 or older is eligible for vaccination. Of the three authorized vaccines, only Pfizer-BioNTech is authorized for 16- and 17-year-olds. Also, 16- and 17-year-olds need to have the permission of a parent or guardian to be vaccinated.

The state’s initial allocation for university students will include 21,000 vaccines to be administered to SUNY students and 14,000 vaccines to be administered at private colleges. The vaccines will be given to residential and non-commuter students who are leaving for the summer.

Speaking on Monday at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island, Cuomo announced that Suffolk as well as another Long Island school, SUNY Old Westbury, would serve as mass-vaccination sites.

“The 18-to-24 population is growing in positivity and many of them are in colleges and universities,” he said.

Later in the day, at a press briefing, Cuomo said, “College students have been told early on that this doesn’t affect young people as seriously, but ironically we’re seeing positivity go up among young people 18 to 24. Even if they believe that they can’t get hurt by COVID, they can transmit COVID, and they can transmit COVID to someone who can get hurt.”

The state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, spoke at the Suffolk event, saying, “Vaccinating college students statewide before they return to their hometown communities at the end of the semester is the next step in this methodical process. It is the best way for students to protect themselves, their families and their communities.”

Zucker also said, “The race between the vaccine and the variants is very real and it is intensifying. The sooner we can hit critical mass, the faster we will stop COVID in its tracks.”

Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen on Monday made a direct plea to parents, both as a health commissioner and as the mother of children aged 16, 18, and 20.

“I will ensure all three of my children are vaccinated,” she said. “I do this because I believe in the safety of the vaccine …. It really is the best way we can move forward.”

She also noted there is interest in obtaining emergency use authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds with Pfizer. “If we get guidance on that, that will be a further expansion.”

Additionally, Whalen urged parents to keep up with their children’s regular vaccination schedule. She noted there was a case of measles in Connecticut, and described measles “a highly, highly contagious virus that can have serious side effects.”

New DOH guidance

The state’s April 9 guidance says schools, both private and public for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, must engage with stakeholders, such as students, parents, staff, faculty, unions, and local health departments, to develop a plan to be posted online.

“Ultimately, the school/district’s decision to move to shorter physical distances will come down to a local community’s risk tolerance based on its unique circumstances,” the document says.

The state guidance says that, in counties with a low or moderate risk of transmissions, students in any grade can sit three feet apart. In countries with a high transmission rate, elementary students can sit three feet apart and cohorting — that is, keeping a single group of students together, isolated from others — is recommended.

However, in middle and high schools, three feet between students is recommended only when schools can use cohorting. When they cannot, six feet must be kept between students.

Six feet is always required between adults — such as faculty, staff, or visitors — and between students and adults.

The state guidance also mandates masks and makes recommendations on ventilation, cleaning, contact tracing, and hygiene.

Since the start of the pandemic, science has evolved on the subject of distancing, initially believing the virus was spread by droplets, which were unlikely to travel beyond six feet, but now believing COVID-19 is largely spread through little, light aerosols, which can spread longer distances.

Also, schools with young children have proven largely to be places where the infection rate is lower than the surrounding community. Children can become infected and transmit the disease but this happens less frequently than transmission to adults, scientists have found.

Schools in Britain, for example, with few restrictions, have had low rates of infection.

In January, the Guilderland schools did surveillance testing of 945 people, including students, faculty, and staff at all seven buildings. Just four of those results were positive. 

“I think it’s very encouraging, out of close to 1,000 tests, we had just four positives,” Superintendent Marie Wiles told The Enterprise at the time. “It’s a strong indication school is a safe place to be.”

School districts, like Guilderland, that held in-person classes this school year followed a six-foot distancing rule, which meant all students could not fit in the usual classroom spaces.

At Guilderland, the oldest elementary students were moved to the middle school and the oldest middle-school students were moved to the high school. Guilderland High School students alternated in-person with remote learning.

The hope is that, with three-foot distancing, school buildings can accommodate more students. The Biden administration has been pushing to open elementary and middle schools by the end of the month.

The state guidance says that, in counties with low or moderate risk of transmission, students in all grades can be three feet apart.

So far this school year, according to the state’s tracker, as of Wednesday night, Guilderland, with about 4,800 students, has had 224 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 120 at the high school, which includes district-wide workers like bus drivers as well; 33 at Farnsworth Middle School; 20 at Westmere Elementary; 15 at Pine Bush Elementary; 14 at Lynnwood Elementary, 11 at Altamont Elementary; and 8 at Guilderland Elementary School.

Voorheesville, with about 1,200 students, has had 60 confirmed cases with 34 at the high school, 16 at the elementary school, and 10 at the middle school.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo, with about 780 students, has had 30 confirmed cases with 14 at the elementary school and 16 at the secondary school.

All three local school districts followed the original CDC guidance on mask-wearing and six-foot distancing.

McCoy expressed consternation on Monday at the release of the state guidance so many weeks after the CDC had changed its guidance from three feet to six feet in many cases.

As he leafed through a print-out of the 24 pages, he said, “I wish someone in the health department would talk to people in the trenches, talk to the school districts, talk to our health department, work together.”

McCoy noted there are just nine weeks left in the school year and that districts are already struggling in getting students back to classrooms. He said Albany city schools started Friday.

He recalled that Biden said in early March his priority was getting students back to school.

McCoy shook his head at one of the state’s suggestions that schools could rent space to accommodate distancing. “Money’s tight,” he said.

Whalen described the guidance as “very complicated and very long.”

She noted that transmission of COVID-19 among teenagers was higher than among younger children.

Whalen summarized the guidance: “Schools and districts can choose to reduce the distancing to no less than three feet. They still recommend six feet between students and any adults.”

Six feet is still recommended also during meals and activities such as gym or when children are projecting their voices as when singing.

“The CDC has recommended elimination of physical barriers and they are strongly suggesting that districts consider testing within the school environment,” Whalen said.

She noted that the state guidance says recommendations should be made in consultation with stakeholders like parents, students, school staff and local health departments and is dependent on the risk in a particular community.

“So this is not a one-size-fits-all but rather a district-by-district decision,” concluded Whalen. “We look forward to working with our school districts on this. It is a lot to digest and a lot to implement. But they have been phenomenal partners so far.”

Graduation

The state guidance on commencement ceremonies sets parameters depending on the event size and location. Schools must follow safety protocols, including requiring face masks, social distancing, health screenings, and collection of contact tracing information.

For gatherings larger than 100 people indoors or 200 people outdoors, organizers must notify the local health department and require attendees to show proof of a recent negative test result or proof of completed immunization prior to entry.

The regulations depend on size.

Four outdoor ceremonies, if the crowd is over 500 people, the venue must not exceed 20 percent capacity. For 201 to 500 people, venues are limited to 33 percent of capacity. Gatherings of up to 200 people are limited to 50-percent of capacity.

For indoor ceremonies, if the crowd is over 150 people, venues are limited to 10 percent of capacity. For 101 to 150 people, the capacity limit is 33 percent. And for gatherings of up to 100 people, the venue cannot exceed 50-percent capacity.

Last year, many local schools held commencement ceremonies at drive-in theaters where families watched from their cars speeches given on the big screen.

Newest numbers

On Wednesday morning, McCoy announced 41new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county’s tally to 23,097.

Of the new cases, 30 did not have clear sources of infection identified,eight had close contact with someone infected with the disease, two were health-care workers or residents of congregate living settings, and one reported traveling out of state.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 52.2 from 58.2. There are now 471 active cases in the county, down from 491 on Tuesday.

The number of Albany County residents under quarantine decreased to 964 from 1,073. So far, 74,234 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 22,626 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 61 recoveries since yesterday.

There were five new hospitalizations overnight and 30 county residents still remain hospitalized from the virus. There are currently six patients in intensive-care units, unchanged from Tuesday.

The county suffered three COVID-related deaths this week, bringing its toll to 369.

Albany County’s infection rate, as of Tuesday, as a seven-day rolling average, was 2.5 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

Statewide, the infection rate, also as of Tuesday, as a seven-day rolling average, was 3.1 percent.

As of Wednesday evening, according to the state’s vaccine tracker, 46.6 percent of Albany County’s 307,117 residents have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine. McCoy reported on Wednesday morning that 32.5 percent had been fully vaccinated.

Statewide, 39.1 percent of New Yorkers have received at least one shot while 25.9 percent have completed a vaccine series.