ALBANY COUNTY — Across the state as well as in Albany County, the number of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 continue to decline.

“We’re ready for Phase 3. The numbers are looking good,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy at his Tuesday morning press briefing.

He remains hopeful that the Capital Region will begin the third of four reopening phases ahead of the June 17 scheduled date.

On Monday night, the state posted guidelines for businesses — in addition to the original restaurant and food services businesses — that can open in Phase 3.

Personal-care businesses — like nail salons, tattoo parlors, and spas — may also open. Parks and recreational venues, except for playgrounds,can open, too.

McCoy said the earlier posting by the state “gives people plenty of time to get ready.”

Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen noted on the county’s dashboard that the number of cases of COVID-19 in the county, beginning with the first two on March 12, had peaked on April 22, and has since steadily declined.

“We are really seeing these numbers drop off,” she said. “This is really encouraging.”

Whalen also said, “To have tested 32,000 Albany County residents is a real accomplishment.”

Looking at the entire eight-county Capital Region on the state’s COVID-19 Tracker, Whalen noted that, at the highest point, 14 percent of those tested were positive while now the positive results are 1 to 2 percent.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, at his Tuesday press briefing, unveiled a dashboard for daily testing results to complement the early warning dashboard for New Yorkers and local governments to easily track the COVID-19 daily test results by region and county as all regions in the state are now reopening.

Whalen was pleased that the tests per day in Albany County are still high — 1,200 on June 8 while the percentage of positive results remains low.

However, she cautioned, “It is not we-are-out-of-the-woods news.” Whalen noted that, as other countries have reopened, there is almost always a spike in COVID-19 cases.

“There’s a difference in areas that are vigilant in their reopening and areas that are not,” she said. “That means as we open up … freely circulate … dine outside in restaurants and do other things, it is more important than ever to utilize the community mitigation efforts.”

Whalen stressed that, to be effective, all three strategies must be practiced simultaneously: staying six feet from others, wearing a mask, and frequently washing hands.

Young adults

For months, McCoy has pointed to age-group data showing county residents between the ages of 20 and 29 are among the groups most likely to contract COVID-19. Now that group, with 309 cases, has surpassed the next-largest group: those between the ages of 50 and 59 with 303 cases.

McCoy has frequently urged the young adults, who can be asymptomatic and so unwittingly spread the disease, to be cautious, wearing masks and staying six feet from others.

Whalen went over guidance released yesterday from the World Health Organization, having to do with the asymptomatic spread of the coronavirus disease 2019.

“Originally, we said people who are asymptomatic are not likely to transmit infection. And then we said people that are asymptomatic can spread the infection,” Whalen recalled of the evolving science.

The new data distinguishes between two different groups of those infected with COVID-19: people with a “paucity” of symptoms who are not likely to transmit the disease, and people who are “presymptomatic,” meaning they shed the disease three days before they develop symptoms.

There is no way of telling the difference between the two groups, said Whalen, so anyone who has tested positive should still follow mitigation strategies.

Tallies

So far, Albany County has 1,805 confirmed cases of COVID-19, six more than yesterday, with 542 residents under mandatory quarantine and six under precautionary quarantine. The five-day average for new daily positives is now 6.6.

As of Tuesday morning, 5,000 Albany County residents have completed quarantine, with 1,526 of them having tested positive and recovered. The recovery rate for Albany County now stands at 84.54 percent.

The county’s death toll from COVID-19 still stands at 115.

Fourteen county residents are hospitalized, with one in an intensive-care unit. The county’s hospitalization rate is 0.77 percent.

As of June 7, Albany County had tested 32,194 residents with a total of 1,978 testing positive, bringing the positive rate to 6.1 percent. The 12203 ZIP code in Albany and Guilderland continues to lead all other county zip codes in total number of positive cases at 255, followed by 12208 in Albany with 151 confirmed positive cases.