ALBANY COUNTY — “Testing is really the cornerstone of being able to control the spread of COVID in the community,” said Elizabeth Whalen, Albany County’s health commissioner, at the county press briefing on Tuesday.

She went on, “We are now looking at testing asymptomatic contacts. We are looking at those who are under mandatory and precautionary quarantine. We are looking at testing health-care workers and those that work in high-risk environments like nursing homes so they can be reassured.”

Whalen said that the state site at the University at Albany is now using the expanded criteria for testing released by the state’s Department of Health on April 26.

Also on Tuesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced 12 steps that must be taken by regions across the state as part of an evolving phased reopening plan.

One of those steps is that each region has to set up a testing regimen, prioritizing people with symptoms and people who have come into contact with someone who has a confirmed case of COVID-19.

The Capital Region, like the other nine regions, has to maintain “an appropriate number of testing sites,” the governor said, and must conduct frequent tests on front-line and essential workers.

Regions are to advertise how and where people can get tested and must collect data to track and trace the spread of the virus.

Each region is to have a control center that monitors and manages the various aspects of the phased reopening.

Part of this initiative is to have at least 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 people, and the region must also monitor the regional infection rate throughout the re-opening plan.

The region must also present plans to have rooms available for people who test positive for COVID-19 and who cannot self-isolate.

Most of these procedures have already been underway in Albany County, although not as part of a Capital Region-wide initiative.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported on Tuesday that the county now has 962 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up 25 from Monday. Also, 917 people are under mandatory quarantine and 23 under precautionary quarantine.

So far, 2,156 county residents have completed quarantine, with 487 of them having tested positive and recovered.

At the county’s mobile walk-up sites in at-risk neighborhoods, 495 people have been tested so far, including 408 at the Albany sites and 87 at the Watervliet site. All testing is by appointment only, after being screened for symptoms over the phone; the number is 518-465-4771.

Currently, 43 county residents are hospitalized with 10 of them in intensive-care units. The county’s hospitalization rate is at 4.46 percent.

The county’s death toll from COVID-19 remains at 36.

At Shaker Place, the county’s nursing home, 42 residents have tested positive for the disease, along with 19 employees, including two staff members who have recovered and returned to work. Three residents have died of COVID-19.

“Going into eight weeks now …,” McCoy said, “It’s amazing people still have an issue being under quarantine and people that are positive are refusing to stay home.”

McCoy went on, “It’s not about you … You’re doing it for the safety and welfare of everyone around you.”

Whalen on Tuesday reiterated the protocols for isolation of sick patients and for mandatory and precautionary quarantine. The health department checks twice a day on people under mandatory quarantine, who have had direct contact with someone who has COVID-19, and once a day with people under precautionary quarantine, who may have been in the same room with a sick person. 

The number of county residents under precautionary quarantine has declined since schools and businesses closed and people are no longer allowed to congregate.

Of Albany County, Whalen said, “We are able to do a lot more than other counties because of the infrastructure we have.” She commended her dedicated staff and the staff from other county departments who have helped as well as the volunteers in the county’s medical reserve corps.

“It really does take an army of people to do this,” concluded Whalen.