ALBANY COUNTY — On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its guidance on masks, stating that, because of the Delta variant, people living in an area of substantial or high transmission should mask indoors in public.

This applies to people who are vaccinated, not just those who are unvaccinated.

The Delta variant, which was first identified in India last October, is highly contagious and now makes up the majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States.

The CDC guidance says, “Wearing a mask is most important if you have a weakened immune system or if, because of your age or an underlying medical condition, you are at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in your household has a weakened immune system, is at increased risk for severe disease, or is unvaccinated. If this applies to you or your household, you might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission in your area.”

A CDC map shows most of New York State in yellow, meaning transmission is moderate; a few areas — largely in the North Country or Western New York — are blue, meaning transmission is low.

One area, which looks to be Greene County, bordering Albany County, is orange, as are Long Island and New York City, meaning transmission is substantial.

The southern states are predominantly red — meaning transmission is high — as are Arizona, Utah, and Nevada.

The CDC says that 46 percent of the counties in the United States — 1,495 counties — have a high transmission rate as of Tuesday evening. Seventeen percent — 548 counties — have substantial transmission while 27 percent — 876 counties — have moderate transmission and 9 percent — 300 counties — have low transmission.

On Tuesday evening, Governor Andrew Cuomo released a statement, saying, “New Yorkers beat back COVID before — going from the highest positivity rate on the globe to one of the lowest — by staying smart, following the science, and having each other’s backs, and that's exactly what we’ll keep doing in this next phase of the pandemic. We are reviewing the CDC’s new recommendations closely in consultation with federal and state health experts.”

Earlier in the day, Cuomo had announced the selection of five laboratories to bolster state efforts in identifying COVID-19 variants. The state’s health department is partnering with the laboratories to expand the genetic sequencing of specimens positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

As part of the CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases Enhancing Detection Expansion supplement, the Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center received approval to use $20 million to establish a sequencing partnership with laboratories at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Cornell University, University at Buffalo, University of Rochester Medical Center, and New York Medical College.

The effort aims to greatly expand genetic sequencing on SARS-CoV-2 positive specimens derived from the general population of New York State outside of New York City, building on genome/variant surveillance efforts and characterization of the transmission and spread of SARS-CoV-2 across the state. 

Highest rate

The Capital Region continues to have the highest infection rate of the state’s 10 regions, which was at 2.61 percent as of Monday as a seven-day rolling average. Statewide, the infection rate was 1.97 percent.

Albany County’s infection rate was 2.6 percent as of Monday, as a seven-day rolling average, according to the state’s dashboard.

After several weeks of new daily infections, in the single digits Albany County in the last two weeks has, like the rest of the nation, experienced an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The county’s executive, Daniel McCoy, reported in a release on Tuesday morning 19 new cases, bringing the county’s tally to 24,622. Six of the new cases had close contact with someone infected with the disease, two were health-care workers or residents of a congregate setting, one had traveled out of state, and 10 did not have a clear source of infection identified.

There are now 92 active cases in the county, up from 83 on Monday. The number of Albany County residents under mandatory quarantine is now up to 145 from 140.

McCoy also reported two new hospitalizations since Monday, and seven county residents are now hospitalized – a net increase of two.

“Our infection rates continue to increase here in Albany County and across New York, with a growing number of active cases and residents quarantined, returning to levels we haven’t seen since the end of May. We’re also seeing our hospitalization numbers ticking back up,” said McCoy in the release. “However, there is some good news — more than 99 percent of new infections in New York are those who haven’t been vaccinated yet, so we know getting infected and getting sick are preventable. This should be a wake-up call to everyone who hasn’t gotten the shot yet.”