Governor Andrew Cuomo said he had spoken with local government leaders who are worried about the highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 from the United Kingdom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 52 cases of the variant, known as B.1.1.7, in the United States with 26 cases in California, 22 in Florida, two in Colorado, and one case each in Georgia and New York.

GUILDERLAND — The Guilderland schools learned of seven new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, Superintendent Marie Wiles wrote in an email to district families on Thursday evening.

ALBANY COUNTY — Getting the COVID-19 vaccine into residents’ arms — as the county’s infection rate continues to top 10 percent and records for hospitalization were broken three times — was the focus of Albany County’s 43rd week of coping with the pandemic.

ALBANY COUNTY — Local leaders — all of them Democrats — were quick to condemn the violent breach of the United States Capitol on Wednesday, which disrupted the Congressional count of electoral votes. 

On Wednesday, the county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, said her department is “working closely with schools to assist them with testing as we anticipate guidance on that will be forthcoming very quickly.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo said the highly transmissible strain from the United Kingdom, which was confirmed in a Saratoga County case on Monday, could be a “game changer” in the foot race to which he regularly alludes. The race pits vaccine implementation against the infection rate and hospital capacity.

“This U.K. strain changes the whole footrace because the U.K. strain, the rate of transmission goes way up, the rate of infection goes way up, and it’s no longer the race that we were running,” Cuomo said at Tuesday’s press conference. “Apparently, the U.K. strain can actually overtake the original COVID strain in a matter of weeks, that’s how quickly it can transmit.”

GUILDERLAND — On Tuesday evening, Superintendent Marie Wiles sent another email to “GCSD Families,” reporting eight new confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Between Dec. 29 and Jan 4, the Guilderland schools had 21 new cases of COVID-19, according to an email Superintendent Marie Wiles sent to GCSD Families on Monday evening.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said hospitals could be fined up to $100,000 for not using their vaccine allocations. “Going forward, they have to use the allocation within seven days; otherwise they can be removed from future distribution,” he said.