Archive » February 2021 » News

Two asymptomatic teens contract B.1.1.7

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

The state and federal governments together have opened mass vaccination sites for Black and brown communities, which have disproportionately been hurt by the pandemic. One of those sites is at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany. Appointments begin on March 3 for residents of these ZIP codes: 12202, 12206, 12207, 12209, and 12210.

Conservation District offers grants for school programs

ALBANY COUNTY — The Albany County Soil and Water Conservation District invites all schools in the county to apply for funding for conservation projects or resource protection that engage students.

Funding is limited.

Public, private, and alternative schools are eligible to apply for mini-grants of $1,000 to $5,000.

Local agencies receive traffic-safety grants

Local municipalities and not-for-profit agencies were among 502 programs throughout New York State to receive a total of over $37.2 million in federal highway safety grants.

The projects awarded funding focused on three types of driver safety initiatives: highway safety, child passenger safety, and police traffic services.

Rules revealed for statewide reopening

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Movie theaters in New York City will be brought in line with the rest of the state at 25-percent capacity, weddings and catered events can be held at 50-percent capacity, billiard halls — having won a lawsuit — can reopen statewide at 50-percent capacity, and nursing homes will be open to visitors.

Nassau County resident has South African variant of COVID-19

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“This variant was first identified in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, in samples dating back to the beginning of October 2020,” reports the CDC, and also says, “Currently there is no evidence to suggest that this variant has any impact on disease severity.”

Former Christian house of worship finds new life: As an Islamic house of worship

by Sean Mulkerrin

“It’s been a place of worship and it will be the same — nothing changes,” It was said of the shuttered Mountainview Evangelical Free Church. “In fact, the sign doesn’t change, only the text in the sign will change, the name will change.”

County relaxes rules for school quarantines

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Starting on Wednesday, the state will ask local districts to report on how many teachers have been vaccinated and how many are teaching in-person classes.

Photo: Governor's Motor Inn Coming Down

The once-swanky motel has been boarded up and vacant since suffering extensive fire damage in 2010. It will be torn down to make way for self-storage units. The Albany County Land Bank announced in December 2019 that it had reached an agreement with Store Away Self Storage to purchase the property for $150,000.

Two cases of B.1.1.7 recorded in Albany County

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Originally, scientists thought that the B.1.17 variant, while more transmissible, was not more severe. Recently, however, British scientists have reported “updated and additional analyses, which together strengthen the earlier finding of increased disease severity in people infected with VOC B.1.1.7 compared to other virus variants.”

Nursing homes will open to visitors, vaccinations will be given at armory

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“Tragically, and even worse,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, “life expectancy dropped by almost three years for African Americans and two years for Hispanics. This is exactly the reason why we need to continue to work towards getting the vaccine to our most vulnerable populations and minority communities.”

Albany Country Club seeks rezone, which would allow 290-unit development

by Sean Mulkerrin

In November 2019, Albany Country Club proposed changing the zoning of 549 acres from Rural Agricultural to Country Hamlet for a 290-unit development consisting of 100 single-family homes, 100 townhomes, and 90 multi-family units.

Empire Center: March 25 memo ‘may have made a bad situation worse’

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

The Empire Center, which went to court to get data from the state on nursing-home deaths in New York, released an

Armory to dispense COVID-19 shots to those in 12210 ZIP code

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

“We want to see more Black and brown members of the community coming into our PODs,” Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen said of points of dispensing

Vaccines roll out as new COVID-19 variants spread

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will set up four more community-based vaccination sites in New York State, one of them in Albany at the Washington Avenue Armory at 195 Washington Ave. Each site will vaccinate about 1,000 New Yorkers a day beginning the first week of March with appointments reserved for residents of the communities in which the sites are located.

Week XLIX: As criticism mounts on nursing-home death counts, McCoy quotes Churchill: ‘When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber’

by Melissa Hale-Spencer

Much of the week’s focus turned to the cascading criticism of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing home death counts.

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