ALBANY COUNTY — As New York State continues its micro-cluster initiative to control COVID-19, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy warned on Monday that residents need to follow protocols to avoid having businesses close again.

“I’m really worried about a rollback,” said McCoy at his morning press briefing. 

Although he said the initial statewide shutdown had been the right thing to do to save lives, it battered the economy.

“I’m begging people … We don’t want to shut down again,” he said.

He noted, in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, “They rioted … when they said they wanted to go back down to lockdown. People won’t tolerate it again.” 

McCoy praised St. Peter’s Hospital for, again, forbidding visitors since, he said, the hospital needs to keep both patients and “front-line workers” safe.

McCoy scolded those who participated in a basketball tournament in Cohoes recently. He said many people had sent him videos of the tournament, expressing “disgust with what’s going on.”

 “Yes, parents, you can be mad at me …,” he said. “The reality is, it’s hurting us.”

McCoy said he worries that, if small businesses are forced to again shut down, they won’t survive.

He also said, “Unfortunately, our suicide rates are going up. Drug relapses are going up. People are going back to drinking.”

McCoy concluded, “Everyone is tired.”

Micro-clusters

As the state continues its micro-cluster initiative, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a conference call with reporters on Monday, new yellow precautionary zones in Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga counties have been imposed.

At the same time, Cuomo announced that, based on progress controlling clusters of COVID-19 in Brooklyn, a red zone there, which was cut in half last week, based on lower numbers, has been changed to an orange warning zone.

The strictest restrictions are placed in red zones where schools are and nonessential businesses are closed and gatherings are forbidden. Orange zones have lesser restrictions, and yellow zones still lesser.

Yellow zones have 25 percent maximums for mass gatherings, a maximum of four people dining at a restaurant table, bars and restaurants close at midnight, and schools get 20-percent testing.

Cuomo, in his conference call, again reiterated his call for local enforcement.

“I’ve had a continuing lament,” he said, spelling out the word. “Local governments have to do enforcement, even if they feel it’s not politically popular but they happen to be wrong. Because I’ll tell you what’s not politically popular: People dying; that’s not politically popular. It’s better you do enforcement than people get sick and people dying. So, the micro-cluster zones have done well. We’ve made progress.”

Only one of the state’s 10 regions, based on Sunday’s COVID-19 test results, was below the once-targeted 1-percent positivity rate — the Southern Tier was at 0.7 percent — although that target may be shifting with the autumn influx of cases.

During Monday’s call, Cuomo said, referring to the threshold set by the World Health Organization for opening businesses and schools, “Like the WHO says, you want to stay below 5 percent.”

He also said, “We expect the rates will all continue to go up through the fall and into the winter …. The only thing you can do, or the best you can do, is manage the increase. But it will be increasing. The fall, much like the flu virus, there are certain conditions about the fall that increase the spread of the virus, more people inside, holidays, fewer outdoor gatherings, etcetera.”

The Capital Region, based on Sunday’s test results, was at 2.0 percent. The highest region was Western New York at 5.3 percent.

Newest numbers

As of Monday morning, Albany County has 3,950 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 39 new cases, McCoy announced.

“The peak, is it here again?” he asked. “.... Since November 1, we’ve had 335 new positive cases, which is pretty alarming.”

Of the new cases, 18 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, two reported traveling out of state, 16 did not have a clear source of infection identified at this time, and three are health-care workers or residents of congregate settings.”

Currently, 1,389 Albany County residents are under quarantine, up from 1,298. The five-day average for new daily positives increased to 50 from 48.4. There are now 337 active cases in the county, up from 305 on Sunday.

So far, 17,764 county residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 3,613 had tested positive and recovered. 

Four new COVID-19 patients were hospitalized overnight, while the number of county residents currently hospitalized due to the virus increased to 32 from 31. Four patients remain in intensive-care units. The hospitalization rate has gone up to 0.81 percent from 0.79 percent.

“The other alarming thing is there are now 32 people hospitalized,” said McCoy. “We’re just shy of the 33 hosptialized on May 26.”

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 144.