ALBANY COUNTY — Over the weekend, the county announced five more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the county’s death toll from the disease to 180.

A man in his eighties died, as well as two women — one in her fifties and the other in her seventies.

On Sunday, County Executive Daniel McCoy announced the death of two more women — one in her fifties and the other in her seventies.

“The vaccine is almost here but we must continue to do our best to protect ourselves and others by not going out unless it’s necessary, and when we do, wear our masks properly, stay six feet away from others, cough and sneeze into our elbows and wash our hands frequently. We will get through this together,” said McCoy in a release announcing the newest numbers.

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized for emergency use the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTeach, and the first shipment of 2.9 million doses will be sent across the country this week, based on state populations. New York State is slated to get 170,000 doses in the first shipment.

However, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease specialist, has warned that it will take at least until the end of next summer for enough Americans to have been vaccinated to control the spread of the virus.

“When you have 75 to 80 percent of the people vaccinated, you have an umbrella of protection over the community that the level of community spread will be really, really very low,” Fauci told Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press conference last week.

Meanwhile the spread across the nation has reached unprecedented levels.

McCoy announced 198 new cases in Albany County on Saturday, based on Friday’s test results: Five are health-care workers or live in a nursing home, 15 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, and 178 had no identified source of infection.

On Sunday, McCoy reported 173 new cases: Three are health-care workers or live in a nursing home, 14 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, and 156 did not have a clear source of infection.

Statewide, the positivity rate was 4.58 percent on Saturday and 4.96 percent on Sunday, based on test results from the day before, according to a release from the governor’s office.

The Capital Region, of which Albany County is a part, had a positivity rate 5.62 percent on Saturday. The Southern Tier continued to have the lowest rate, at 2.3 percent followed by New York City at 4.01 percent and the North Country at 4.06 percent.

Of the state’s 10 regions, the Finger Lakes had the highest positivity rate at 8.12 percent followed by the Mohawk Valley at 8.02 percent.

While infection rates used to be the criteria for the state to establish micro-cluster zones, to tamp down on outbreaks, Cuomo’s winter plan is now focusing on hospital capacity as well.

As of Sunday, the Capital Region had 253 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, which represents 0.02 percent of the region’s population and leaves 26 percent of its hospital beds available. Statewide, 0.03 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with the disease, leaving 22 percent of hospital beds available.

The Capital Region has 279 intensive-care beds of which 173 are currently occupied, leaving 43 percent available. Statewide, 34 percent of ICU beds are available.

Albany County currently has 80 residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and 12 of them are in intensive-care units.

As of Sunday morning, Albany County has had 7,805 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019. The five-day average for new daily positives decreased to 188.4 from 194.8.  

The number of residents under mandatory quarantine increased to 3,082 from 2,947. So far, 27,926 county residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 6,169 had tested positive and recovered.