ALBANY COUNTY — On Friday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced the county’s 135th death from COVID-19 — a man in his seventies with underlying health conditions — as Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that a New York Cares package is being sent to the White House.

“Politics is politics and we can disagree on policy issues, but on a human level the president grew up in New York; he’s from Queens,” said Cuomo in a conference call with the press. “I know the First Lady, I’ve spoken with her, so I sincerely wish them the best for a speedy recovery.”

The care package has apples from upstate farms, bagels from New York City, cheesecake from Junior’s, chicken wings from Dinosaur BBQ, and apple cider.

Late in the afternoon, Cuomo said he was informed that Donald Trump had reviewed and approved the state’s request for disaster assistance of $35 million, mostly for Long Island, which was damaged by Tropical Storm Isaias.

“On a personal level it’s good to hear from the White House that the president was continuing to work today,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the funds. “We once again wish him and the First Lady a speedy recovery and our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time.”

Cuomo announced on the morning conference call that he is cracking down on enforcement in the hotspot areas. Twenty ZIP codes — primarily in Orange and Rockland counties as well as in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City — have been identified as having outbreaks of COVID-19.

“Overall, the hotspots have an infection rate of about 6.4 percent,” the governor told the press. “The state outside of the hotspots has an infection rate of about 1.03 percent. So, it’s all about the hotspots for us.”

Cuomo went on, “The Department of Health is going to have people on the ground in those ZIP codes today. The Department of Health is sending a what’s called Section 16 letter to the local governments, advising them that they have to step up the compliance, that it is the law and, if the local governments don’t step up the compliance, they will actually be in violation of the law and they can be fined.

“I’ve asked the local governments many times to actually do the compliance. Compliance is enforcement. Compliance is not public education. People know what the rules are. They’ve heard it every day. Local governments have to do enforcement,whether or not it fits with their political agenda really is pointless. It’s the law and their job is to enforce the law.”

Failure to adhere to the order can result in penalties of up to $10,000 per day, according to the state’s Public Health Law.

“It sounds harsh,” Cuomo told Paul Murnane with WCBS NewsRadio, “but look, you have your right to do with your life as you’d like. You don’t have a right to jeopardize my health and this is not a joke. We see it again with the president who had a sophisticated operation around him. I visited the president in the White House. You had to be tested, you had to be screened and still he caught the virus ... 

“It’s the law and the gatherings in front of bars, religious gatherings that go over the allowable limits, people on buses or trains or on the sidewalk without a mask — they’re violating the law. They should be ticketed.”

Albany County has uptick

While Cuomo announced a record number of test results reported statewide yesterday — 119,493 — the Capital Region, of which Albany County is a part, remained just below the threshold goal of 1-percent positivity — at 0.9 percent.

Six of the state’s 10 regions were at or above 1 percent, with Mid-Hudson, home to both Orange and Rockland counties, the highest at 2.6 percent. The lowest, as usual, was the North Country, at 0.2 percent.

“We continue this long and difficult journey,” said McCoy at the start of his Friday morning press briefing, announcing the 135th COVID-19 death in the county, the first in nearly three weeks.

Albany County currently has 3,010 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 28 new cases announced on Friday. Ten of those new cases were related to the University at Albany.

McCoy noted a number of the colleges in Albany County and said, “The students had to learn.” When they first returned to school this fall they “got a little freedom,” he said, adding, “Now I think they’re getting it.”

On Sept. 18, McCoy reported, 84 percent of the county’s new COVID-19 cases were of students. On Sept. 25, a week later, students made up 61 percent, he said. Students made up just 13 percent on Thursday, Oct. 1, he said, terming it “a huge decrease.”

McCoy commended Albany’s mayor, Kathy Sheehan, and the city’s police chief, Eric Hawkins, for “educating students to be good neighbors.”

While Albany County has nowhere near the numbers of Cuomo’s “hotspots,” Elizabeth Whalen, the county’s health commissioner, said on Friday, “We are starting to see a little bit of an uptick in cases.”

She said it is too soon to say if this is the surge some expected in the fall as schools reopened and people moved more indoors.

Whalen repeated the importance of washing hands, wearing masks, and staying six feet from others.

She urged that people consider whether they “need to be out and about” and urged avoiding crowds and getting flu shots.

McCoy urged people who suffered flu-like symptoms after getting their shots to get checked for COVID-19.

“Someone in my immediate family got the flu shot,” he said. The person thought the symptoms were from the shot but it turned out to be COVID-19.

“It unnecessarily exposed other people because they thought it was just a reaction to the flu shot, so please be careful,” McCoy advised.

Currently, 967 Albany County residents are under quarantine. The five-day average for new daily positives has increased to 14.8 from 13 on Thursday. There are now 98 active cases in the county, up from 93.

So far, 12,596 people have completed quarantine. Of those, 2,912 tested positive and recovered.

Among the 28 new cases, 17 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, one is a healthcare worker or resident of a congregate setting, two reported out-of-state travel, and eight did not have a clear source of transmission detected at this time.

One more resident was hospitalized since Thursday, while the number of county residents currently hospitalized due to the virus dropped from five to four, with one patient in an intensive-care unit. The hospitalization rate remains at 0.16 percent.

Both Whalen and McCoy said they had signed up for the state’s new tracing app, which went live on Thursday, and encouraged others to do the same.

“That app is pretty cool,” said McCoy. “It doesn’t give up your information.”

“We continue with our daily work of contact tracing and case investigation for every single positive case in Albany County,” said Whalen. “We are working on containing cases, particularly when we see clusters of illness so we do not see further transmission.”

On Thursday, Whalen noted, the state issued a long-anticipated tool kit for schools and she plans to hold a conference call about it next week with area superintendents whom she called “great partners.”

McCoy highlighted an award given to the county’s nursing home, Shaker Place, by the American Health Care Association, and praised the workers there.

Two years ago, he said, Shaker Place was awarded the Bronze National Quality Award. This year, it earned a Silver.

“We’re on our way to gold,” said McCoy.