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“We are estimated to be nine to 10 days behind Italy. Please look at what’s going on there,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen. “What we do right now as a community in terms of limiting social interaction can blunt the curve and help our hospital capacity and our capacity to care for those that are ill.”

Capital Region hospitals have outlined their plans for coronavirus preparedness.

Referrals from primary-care providers are preferred for assessment and potential testing for COVID-19 at these locations:

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy made a call for volunteers to staff phone lines to keep the county’s health department from being “bogged down” as it maps and tracks the people that those with confirmed cases have come into contact with. “We can use volunteers to answer phones,” McCoy said. “We can train you in ten, fifteen minutes.”

On Friday, March 13, Acting Supreme Court Justice Denise A. Hartman ruled in favor of Berne farmer Emily Vincent, who had been illegally removed as a full member of the planning board on Jan. 1 and challenged the town’s action in court.

Either a student or staff member with a confirmed case of COVID-19 would trigger a school closing.

Describing the mood at school today, Superintendent Marie Wiles said, “People are worried and you can feel the anxiety build as this moves closer and closer to our community.”

Wiles said it was “horrible” to have to tell the students who had rehearsed for the "Chicago" musical for months that, on what was scheduled to be opening night, the show would not go on.

“They were heartbroken and upset,” she said, “which is understandable.”