Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy said that the eight counties in the Capital Region — Albany, Columbia, Greene, Saratoga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Warren, and Washington — now meet five out of the seven metrics outlined by Governor Andrew Cuomo for reopening.

More than half of Albany County’s jobs fall in the second phase, outlined by the governor for reopening businesses, which would mean June at the earliest.

As the new cases of COVID-19 have dropped statewide, Albany County is still waiting to hit its apex.

“If you can open your heart and open your home, we would love to have you foster a child,” said Moira Manning, Albany County’s commissioner for the Department for Children, Youth and Families, giving this phone number to start the process: 518-447-7515.

“We received word overnight,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen at Friday’s press briefing of expanded testing at the University at Albany. “They’re looking to cast a much broader net of people that need to be screened or tested for COVID-19.”

“Every bit of every part of the work we do is rethought and needs to constantly be rethought again,” says Marie Wiles, superintendent of the Guilderland schools.

Unlike Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement earlier in the week that schools would not reopen this year, which was hailed by educators, his plan to have the state work with the Gates Foundation “to reimagine education” met with resistance from some groups of educators.

Working with other staff, Kathleen Dethomasis said, nurses call each person who tests positive for COVID-19, collects their contact information, and provides them with education and strategies to prevent further spread of the disease, including adherence to isolation and quarantine orders.

In New York State, none of the 10 regions Governor Andrew Cuomo has defined has been able to meet all seven requirements for reopening. 

“Overall … our numbers are steady,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen at Tuesday’s county press briefing. “We have done a pretty good job flattening our curve and we have not seen issues with surge capacity in our hospitals, similar to downstate.”