ALBANY COUNTY — Hopes continue to rise as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall.

In the 13th week of Albany County’s coronavirus restrictions, the county executive Daniel McCoy said at Wednesday’s press briefing, “I’m hoping we can open up this weekend.”

The county, like the rest of the Capital Region, is in the second of four reopening phases. It is scheduled to enter Phase 3 on June 17. The state set up two-week intervals between reopening phases to be sure required metrics were met.

“The governor is calling the shots. We’re just playing on his field,” said McCoy.

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.”

“We have to still maintain vigilance and act as if we’re all still at risk,” urged Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen on Wednesday.

At the same time, both she and McCoy commended county residents on having flattened the curve by staying home. They stressed the need as more people go back to work and begin activities like dining out to continue to wear masks, wash hands, and stay six feet from others.

The number of cases of COVID-19 in Albany County, beginning with the first two on March 12, had peaked on April 22, and has since steadily declined.

On Tuesday, Whalen said of the decline, “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.”

The county had braced for a spike in COVID-19 cases, which would show up after the Memorial Day weekend, but there was none.

The current concern is about the masses of people who have congregated to protest racial injustice. A walk-up test site in Albany for protesters and first responders tested 78 people but, as of Wednesday, the results were not back. Similar tests were offered in Albany again on Wednesday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo had announced on Thursday that the state is expanding COVID-19 testing criteria to include any individual who attended any of the protests across the state. He urged protesters to get tested.

McCoy urged first responders as well as protesters to call the county’s free mental-health helpline if they are experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression. The support line — 518-269-6634 — is available seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone experiencing a psychiatric emergency should still call the Albany County Mobile Crisis Team at 518-549–6500.

Openings

On Monday, the last region of the state’s 10 regions to begin reopening, New York City, the epicenter of the disease, started Phase 1.

Throughout the week, Cuomo announced statewide openings.

On Friday, he amended an earlier executive order so that necessary, in-person special education instruction will be allowed in New York State this summer. And, on Wednesday morning, it was announced that special-education services and instruction could be provided in person this summer. Other summer-school classes are online.

On Saturday, Cuomo announced he was accelerating the opening of temples, mosques, and churches. Houses of worship in Phase 2 regions can open to 25 percent occupancy of the building.

Cuomo said he spoke to a minister who said 25 percent occupancy is better than zero. “He said, ‘But 25 percent occupancy, then I have to have four services to get everyone in.’ Then he said, ‘Well you know, I have to give the same sermon four times ... Hopefully by the fourth time I get it right,” Cuomo reported.

The governor urged, “Be smart. It does not mean you go to a temple or a mosque and you sit right next to a person. You have to socially distance. Watch on the entranceway and on the exit way when people tend to congregate going through the entrance or the exit.”

On Sunday, Cuomo announced that outdoor, socially-distanced graduations of up to 150 people will be allowed beginning June 26, subject to any outbreaks or significant changes in the metrics. He had announced earlier that schools could hold drive-through ceremonies, or ceremonies at drive-in theaters. (See related story.)

On Wednesday, Cuomo said that nursing-home workers would no longer have to be tested twice a week for COVID-19; once a week would suffice.

Another sign of the return to new normalcy is McCoy said on Wednesday he’d change his daily press briefings into twice-weekly briefings.

Evolving science

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.

Earlier in the week, on Saturday, Cuomo went over new information from global health experts. “The virus can live in the air for three hours, which is actually frightening when you think about it,” said Cuomo. “It means if I am infected and I am speaking and we have air molecules that I am dispersing, they could linger for three hours.”

Cuomo also reported, “You can still get the virus from a surface, but the virus does not live as easily or as long on surfaces as they originally thought.”

He went on, “They originally said, if you were infected, you cannot be re-infected. That was theoretically a way for the workforce to go back to work … That’s wrong. Infected people may be able to get infected.”

Whalen went over guidance released Monday 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.

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.

New numbers

McCoy announced on Wednesday that another county resident — a woman in her seventies with underlying health conditions — has died of coronavirus disease 2019. That brings the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 116.

So far, the county has 1,809 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 539 residents under mandatory quarantine and five under precautionary quarantine. The five-day average for new daily positives is now 6.2.

So far, 5,014 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 84.35 percent.

Twelve county residents are now hospitalized, bringing the hospitalization rate to 0.66 percent.