“Are we going to put life on hold?” asks Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber.

Stephen Giordano, director of Albany County’s department of mental health, made several suggestions for managing stress in the time of coronavirus. “Exercise heals us emotionally,” he said. “Sleep is critical for the immune system. So is eating.”

“Wake up. Stop being selfish,” Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy urged residents on Wednesday as cases of COVID-19 soar downstate and people continue to leave their homes here and gather.

“Depending on how things evolve and if it is needed, we can be available, if all the planets align,” said a spokesman for The Grand, referring to its 17 facilities across New York State that might house overflow patients from hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are still people that feel we are overreacting,” said Steven Hanks, chief clinical officer of St. Peter’s Health Partners. “We are in support of the governor’s increase of at least 50 percent.”

ALBANY COUNTY — In the midst of his press conference on Tuesday morning, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy got a text saying that two more COVID-19 patients had been hospitalized: both are men, aged 44 and 68.

“Take this serious, folks. Please,” he said.

“The work of cemeteries is considered an essential business,” said funeral director John Gulino. “The graves will be dug; people will be buried. It’s not going to get like Italy.”

Someone at the City Mission has contracted the coronavirus disease. The county’s health department is working with support from the county’s Department of Social Services to see that people who are homeless or in shelters can be quarantined and not put others at risk. And the sheriff is ready to open a homeless shelter in a wing of the county’s jail.

Gun sales have skyrocketed, Albany Sheriff Craig Apple says, urging, “Don’t go out and shoot a gun for the first time in the midst of this crisis.”

NYS gears up to create hospital space, manufacture masks and medical equipment