ALBANY COUNTY — This week, Albany County’s third in a row of being labeled as having a high community level of COVID-19, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a third scathing report detailing efforts by the Trump administration to compromise the scientific integrity of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s coronavirus response to serve Trump’s political goals.

On Monday, Albany County launched a survey, asking residents how best to spend $29.6 million, a second round of federal funds to help with recovery from the ongoing pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan Act includes money for, among other things, dealing with economic fallout from COVID-19, public health, support of essential workers, and certain kinds of infrastructure.

The situation is a sharp contrast to two years ago when Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy urgently called for federal support, saying, “People in this county need these services more than they’ve ever needed them before in life. They need it now. And they’re going to need it going into the future.”

The first round of federal funds was used by the county to fill in for economic loss caused by the pandemic.

The survey, which must be submitted by Nov. 16, may be filled out anonymously online at https://albanycountyarpa.org/survey/. The funds must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.

The survey’s categories for investments include community health and wellness, economic recovery and growth, quality of life, homelessness and housing, and public safety, among others.

“While the first tranche of federal dollars was critical to addressing sales tax revenue shortfalls to ensure county government could properly respond to the pandemic, we must now look ahead to the types of projects that will allow us to continue moving forward, stronger than before,” said McCoy in a release announcing the survey.

“Whether it’s our seniors and those with underlying health conditions, families with school-aged children, small business owners, minority communities, frontline workers or others, we know that COVID has had a disproportional impact on some compared to others. With this survey, we want to get input from our residents to help ensure that our recovery is equitable, effective, and forward-thinking,” McCoy said.

“Community members know what is best for their communities and what is needed to help strengthen our county so we encourage every resident to take a few minutes to fill out the survey,” said Albany County Legislature Chairman Andrew Joyce in the release. “Only then can we ensure that we are investing the people’s money responsibly.”

“Hearing from those impacted the most by the pandemic means a more targeted response and importantly, more resources going toward finding a solution,” said Legislative Black Caucus Chairman William Clay in the release.

The online survey is available in multiple languages to encourage widespread participation.

Paper copies of the survey are available at the Harold L. Joyce Albany County Office Building at 112 State Street in Albany or at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County at 24 Martin Road in Voorheesville and may be dropped off in person at either location or sent by mail to the Office of the Albany County Executive at 112 State St, Room 1200, Albany, NY 12207.

Bivalent booster for younger kids

On Oct. 12, the federal Food and Drug Administration extended its emergency use authorization for booster shots for younger children. No booster shots have been cleared for children younger than 5.

The Moderna vaccine is for children as young as 6 and the Pfizer-BioNTech booster is for children as young as 5 years old.

Both vaccines included a messenger RNA component to provide an immune response that is broadly protective against COVID-19 as well as a messenger RNA component in common between the omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5 lineages to provide better protection against COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant, the FDA says.

“Since children have gone back to school in person and people are resuming pre-pandemic behaviors and activities, there is the potential for increased risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., in a release from the FDA. “Vaccination remains the most effective measure to prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.

“While it has largely been the case that COVID-19 tends to be less severe in children than adults, as the various waves of COVID-19 have occurred, more children have gotten sick with the disease and have been hospitalized. Children may also experience long-term effects, even following initially mild disease. We encourage parents to consider primary vaccination for children and follow-up with an updated booster dose when eligible.”

Both the Pfizer and the Moderna bivalent booster shots are to be given at least two months following completion of primary or booster vaccination in children.

This means many children cannot get the booster shots because they have not been fully vaccinated in the first place.

Reported vaccine uptake among children ages 5 to 11 and teenagers ages 12 to 17 has slowed in recent months, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, published on Sept. 30. Almost half of parents of kids ages 5 to 11 now report their child has gotten vaccinated (46 percent), as do 62 percent percent of parents of teens ages 12 to 17.

For parents of children younger than 5: More (53 percent) now say they will “definitely not” vaccinate their child against COVID-19 compared to a year ago when 35 percent said they would “definitely not” vaccinate, according to the survey.

In general, the Kaiser survey found, awareness of the updated boosters — which eligible adults were authorized to get at the end of August — is relatively modest. About half of adults said they’ve heard “a lot” (17 percent) or “some” (33 percent) about the new shots. About a third of all adults (32 percent) say they’ve already gotten a new booster dose or intend to get one “as soon as possible.”

“Full accounting”

For more than two years, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has been investigating the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic “to ensure the American people receive a full accounting of what went wrong and to determine what corrective steps are necessary to ensure our nation is better prepared for any future public health crisis,” the report released on Sunday says.

The current report cites documents showing how Trump administration officials:

— “Usurped control of CDC communications and blocked public health officials from providing accurate information about the coronavirus to the American people;

— “Installed political operatives who sought to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic and retaliated against career officials who contradicted Trump Administration talking points;

— “Overruled scientists to weaken multiple CDC guidance documents and to exploit and counteract CDC’s public health authorities to achieve political goals;

— “Attempted to manipulate the content and block the publication of CDC’s scientific reports and destroy evidence of such political interference; and

— “Diverted taxpayer money away from CDC to inject overtly pro-Trump slogans into public service announcements about vaccines.”

“As today’s report shows, President Trump and his top aides repeatedly attacked CDC scientists, compromised the agency’s public health guidance, and suppressed scientific reports in an effort to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus,” said James E. Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina who chairs the subcommittee, in a statement, releasing the report.

“This prioritization of politics, contempt for science, and refusal to follow the advice of public health experts harmed the nation’s ability to respond effectively to the coronavirus crisis and put Americans at risk,” he said. “As we continue to recover from the coronavirus crisis, we must also continue to work to safeguard scientific integrity and restore the American people’s trust in our public health institutions.”

County numbers

Albany County suffered two COVID-related deaths this week, its 136th week of dealing with the coronavirus. The governor’s office, in its daily COVID releases, reported one death on Monday, Oct. 17, and another on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

However, the county’s dashboard, as of Tuesday night, still shows a death toll of 583: 281 males and 302 females.

As of Oct. 17, according to Albany County’s COVID dashboard, the seven-day average for hospitalized COVID patients was 41.00, dramatically up from 26.71 last week, 26.57 two weeks ago, 27.29 three weeks ago, 23.57 four weeks ago, and a huge increase from five weeks ago when the county’s seven-day average for hospitalized residents was 15.14.

About 40 percent of the Capital Region residents hospitalized with COVID this week were not admitted because of having the virus, according to a chart from the governor’s office.

While Albany County is labeled as having a “high” community level of COVID-19, partly based on hospitalization, it is one of only 2 percent of counties nationwide so designated. The vast majority of counties in the United States — 80 percent — are designated as having “low” community levels.

Eighteen percent of counties nationwide, as are most of New York’s counties, are designated as having a “medium” level. Before being designated “high” three weeks ago, Albany County was labeled with a medium community level for 13 weeks. CDC guidance is to wear masks in public when the level is high.

Although figures on infection rates are no longer reliable since tracing and tracking systems have been disbanded, the state dashboard shows that cases statewide and in Albany County have continued mostly to rise for the last two months.

Albany County, as a seven-day average, now has 21.0 cases per 100,000 of population, down very slightly from 21.1 last week, up from 19.1 two weeks ago, 19.7 three weeks ago, 17.1 four weeks ago, 16.3 five weeks ago, 17.0 six weeks ago, 17.3 seven weeks ago, 17.9 eight weeks ago, and 19.3 nine weeks ago but down from 21.8 cases per 100,000 ten weeks ago.

This compares with 20.3 cases statewide, which is up from 19.9 cases last week but down from 21.4 two weeks ago, 23.4 cases three weeks ago and from 22.2 four weeks ago. But it’s up from 18.6 cases five weeks ago, although down from 21.1 cases six weeks ago, 23.0 seven weeks ago, 25.6 eight weeks ago, and 30.03 per 100,000 of population nine weeks ago.

The lowest rates are now in Western New York at 16.55 per 100,000 of population.

The highest count, as last week and the week before, is still in Central New York at 23.01, which is down from 26.84 last week, 27.65two weeks ago, and 30.19 cases three weeks ago.

The numbers for vaccination in Albany County have hardly budged for several months.

As of Tuesday, 61.7 percent of eligible residents had received booster shots, according to the state’s dashboard, the same as last week. At the same time, 75.4 percent of county residents had completed a vaccination series, which is up just slightly from 75.3 percent last week.

This compares with 79.3 percent of New Yorkers statewide completing a vaccination series, up slightly from last week’s 79.1 percent and 78.9 percent the week before.

New Yorkers are being encouraged by the state’s health department to get bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for anyone age 5 or older and from Moderna for those 6 or older.

To schedule an appointment for a booster, New Yorkers are to contact their local pharmacy, county health department, or healthcare provider; visit vaccines.gov; text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations.

The state’s health department is also urging New Yorkers to get their annual flu vaccine as flu season approaches. The flu vaccine is recommended for almost everyone 6 months and older.

Free film to spur talk on isolation

Loneliness is the difference between what people hope for and what they have, says one of the experts featured in “All The Lonely People,” a new social-impact documentary about the hidden epidemic of social isolation, which affects all age groups.

The New York State Office for the Aging, Association on Aging in New York, and filmmakers from the Clowder Group are joining approximately 20 community partners for “All The Lonely People: Film Screenings and Community Conversations about Social Isolation” at locations across New York State.

“This is an issue that existed prior to the pandemic,” said the director of the Office for the Aging, Greg Olsen, in a release. “Yet the social disruptions of COVID-19 fundamentally exacerbated it — and, in many ways, helped open our eyes to the problem.”

Locally, the film will be screened for free on Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at the Bouck Hall Theater, at 106 Suffolk Circle, on the Cobleskill campus.

In 2017, the U.S. Surgeon General declared social isolation to be a “global epidemic” — one that has only worsened in the COVID-19 health emergency. According to the AARP Public Policy Institute, social isolation drives $6.7 billion in additional associated Medicare spending per year.

The health consequences of loneliness and isolation are equivalent to smoking almost a pack of cigarettes daily. The added stress of feeling alone increases heart disease and even earlier onset of dementia.

The in-person screenings will include a facilitated question-and-answer session with the film’s producers, offering a forum for community discussion about ways to develop resilience and implement strategies to combat social isolation.

The documentary was produced, written, and directed by Joseph Applebaum and Stu Maddux, co-founders and principals at the Clowder Group, a film production company specializing in social impact features.

Each program consists of screening the documentary, which lasts 69 minutes, and a facilitated dialogue on the issues of loneliness and social isolation. Seating is limited, and most locations require pre-registration

“All The Lonely People” examines this epidemic on a deeply personal level. It follows a handful of people from different walks of life as they overcome social isolation and chronic loneliness, including New York residents Ari Rossen and Tony Westbrook, as well as people like Mary Hill, an 89-year-old caregiver who faces isolation in the rural countryside of England.

“Social isolation and loneliness can have a devastating impact on our mental and physical health,” said the state’s mental health commissioner, Ann Sullivan, in the release. “Now more than ever, with the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness, anxiety and fear are affecting the health and wellness of millions of people across the globe.”