ALBANY COUNTY — The statewide “pause” — shutting nonessential businesses and prohibiting gatherings — is extended until at least May 15, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday.

The closure is in concert with neighboring states.

Cuomo also directed New Yorkers to wear masks or face-coverings in public, specifically when using public or private transportation or when riding in for-hire cars. The drivers must also wear masks, effective on Friday at 8 p.m.

Cuomo on Thursday also confirmed 8,505 additional cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019, bringing the statewide total to 222,284. 

At his press briefing on Thursday morning, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced that the county now has 563 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 668 people under mandatory quarantine and 66 people under precautionary quarantine.

Thirty county residents are now hospitalized with eight of them in intensive-care units. the hospitalization rate for Albany County stands at 5.68 percent of those who have tested positive for COVID-19.