“We can’t test you if you have no signs … We just can’t afford to do it right now,” says Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy of diagnostic tests for COVID-19.

“Our members are scared about … what’s going to happen with their business and also how will they open up,” said Maureen McGuinness, president of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce. “Can their business survive in a post-pandemic world?”

 “The strategy is to get them off the street, provide a safe haven, and hopefully they’ll start to work with our staff on some counseling,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple of the wing of jail that now houses a handful of homeless people. “The ultimate goal is to get them back employed. 

“We’re still getting 20 to 30 positives a day,” said Albany County’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen. “We’re still at that plateau level.”

On Friday, two dozen State Assembly members, led by Patricia Fahy, called on New York’s senators and congress members to create a modern-day, New Deal-style Works Progress Administration similar to the jobs program that was created by the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

“We continue to see our numbers plateau,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen, with 20 to 30 cases per day

 “Every single system, every single way that we operate, we had to rethink in the last month,” said Marie Wiles, superintendent of the Guilderland schools.

“We are in a new economic reality. We are in a challenging economic landscape …,” the state’s comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, said on Wednesday at the county’s press briefing. “We still don’t know where it’s headed so a lot of what we’re talking about is still very tentative information.” He estimated the state’s revenue losses could range from $10 billion to $15 billion.

“The irony is mindblowing. The taxpayers are losing out because of the state’s own computer problems … The state has denied the town funds as a result of the state’s own glitch. It was their fault,” says Andrew Farbstein, a consultant who helped Guilderland with its townwide revaluation last year.

“Quarantine the Sick, Not the Healthy!” said a sign held by a youngster at Wednesday’s protest. An hour before, Albany County’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, had explained once again that the coronavirus is often spread by people who are asymptomatic; they can feel fine as they pass along the disease without knowing they have it. COVID-19 is most lethal for the elderly and those with underlying health issues.