ALBANY COUNTY — On Friday, Albany County was labeled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having a “high” community level of COVID-19; this means masks are to be worn indoors in public.

Most counties in the nation are labeled as “low” while most counties in New York State are labeled either “medium” or “high.”

The CDC’s three-tiered system is based on new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 of population as a seven-day total and on the percent of inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients as a seven-day average.

Also on Friday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, in his twice-weekly COVID release, reported four new deaths of county residents: a man in his fifties, a woman in her sixties, a woman in her eighties, and a man in his nineties.

One of those deaths occurred earlier than this week, he said. This brings the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 547.

Under the CDC’s four-tiered system, based on percentage of positive tests, or infection rate, the entire state of New York is colored red for “high” community transmission of the virus, except for Chautauqua County, which is colored orange for a “substantial” level.

Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday said two new subvariants of Omicron are responsible for the surge in New York State.

The CDC reports that New York and New Jersey now have 45.7 percent of their COVID cases caused by the original Omicron variant (BA.2) while 52.3 percent are caused by one of the new subvariants, BA.2.12.1.

McCoy reported that Albany County now has 134 new daily cases as a seven-day average with 33.1 cases per 100,000 of population, and an infection rate of 10.6 percent.

Twenty-four county residents are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, with one of them in an intensive-care unit.

“This virus continues to spread at a rapid rate, though the number of individuals in our hospitals is remaining relatively low and stable for now,” said McCoy in the release. “I’m happy to see the percentage of people getting their booster shots growing quickly, which was down at 64.3 percent just three weeks ago.

“I continue to urge people to get vaccinated and boosted if they haven’t yet, and to take added precautions if you are older or have underlying health issues and weakened immune systems that could create a greater danger if you contract COVID-19.”

More than a quarter of Albany County residents are still not fully vaccinated; the percentage of fully vaccinated residents remains at 74.4 percent.

Statewide, the governor’s office reported on Friday, the infection rate is 6.37 percent with western New York having the highest rate at 14.63 percent.

Since at-home testing is so prevalent and positive results are often unreported, the more reliable metric is now considered to be cases per 100,000 of population. Statewide, as of Thursday, there are 32.61 cases per 100,000, as a seven-day average. Central New York is the highest at 51.99 per 100,000.

Wadsworth funding

On Thursday, Hochul announced the award of an initial design contract for a $750 million public-health laboratory on the Harriman State Office Campus.

Gilbane/Turner will work with the design firm HOK in constructing a new Wadsworth Laboratory that will consolidate operations currently spread out among several Capital Region facilities.

The contract, according to a release from the governor’s office, will comprise several phases: This initial investment will explore options for a new basis of design, ranging from partial to full consolidation of Wadsworth facilities to effectively respond to potential future public-health crises.

The Wadsworth Laboratory focuses on a range of public health concerns, including responding to public health threats, studying emerging infections, analyzing environmental exposures, and licensing clinical and environmental laboratories.

Since its origins developing communicable diseases treatments in 1901 and the development of the Division of Laboratories and Research in 1914, the release said, the Wadsworth Center has grown to become the largest and most diverse state public health laboratory in the United States.

“As New York State’s nationally recognized public health laboratory, the Wadsworth Center is uniquely positioned to respond to public health emergencies as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mary Bassett, the state’s health commissioner, in a statement. “This initial investment ensures the building of a state-of-the-art laboratory to continue and strengthen the expert analysis of disease specimens and environmental samples to protect the health of all New Yorkers.”

Food help

Also on Thursday, Hochul announced that New Yorkers enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive the maximum allowable level of food benefits for April.

All households participating in SNAP — including those already at the maximum level of benefits — will receive a supplemental allotment this month, which will result in New York State’s economy receiving roughly $232 million in federal funding, according to a release from the governor’s office.

“By providing the maximum level of food benefits to those in need, we can help struggling households make ends meet and keep food on the table as we continue our economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis,” said Hochul in the release.

SNAP households in all counties outside of New York City should see these extra benefits post by Friday, April 22. Those households already near or at the maximum benefit level — $835 for a household of four — will receive a supplemental payment of at least $95.

New Yorkers continue to rely heavily on SNAP, with more than 1.6 million households throughout the state enrolled in the program in February. More than 2.8 million New Yorkers received benefits in February, the most since June 2021.

On Friday, the state announced $20 million in federal funding to help with food purchases for multigenerational families.

Starting April 23, one-time payments will be issued to households enrolled in public assistance or SNAP that have both an adult who is 55 or older and a child who is 17 or under, where both the child and adult are in receipt of these benefits.

Households will get $730 for each eligible older adult in the household. About  26,300 households expected to receive this assistance.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disproportionately impact those New Yorkers who were struggling even before the public health emergency began,” Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Commissioner Daniel W. Tietz said in a statement.. “This one-time benefit will bring welcome relief to older adults with children or teens living in their household as our state collectively recovers from the economic tumult of the past two years.”

Nursing homes close

On Thursday, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living released a report highlighting data that shows the growing number of nursing home closures since 2015, as well as projected closings in the months ahead.

“The report reinforces urgent calls for solutions to address the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a historic workforce crisis,” said a release from the organization announcing the report.

The report says that more than 1,000 nursing homes have closed since 2015, including 776 closures before the pandemic and 327 closures during the pandemic.

Since 2015, nearly 45,000 nursing home residents have been displaced due to closures.

The report also projects that more than 400 nursing homes will close in 2022 based on current financials.

Analyzing federal data, the report found nursing homes that close tend to be smaller facilities in urban settings where the majority of residents rely on Medicaid.

During the pandemic, nearly half of nursing homes that closed received 4- or 5-star ratings from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more than one-quarter were in rural communities, and an increasing proportion were not-for-profit.