Terrice Bassler, a leadership coach, says that, when she is coaching someone, “I look for the red thread. I look for that thread that runs through somebody’s life story, even if it looks a little disconnected and wild.”

Bassler’s own red thread may be providing service to others.

Graphs on the county’s website show the surge this January, with the Omicron variant still making up 95 percent of the cases statewide, was about three times higher than the surge last January, but, at the same time, another graph shows hospitalizations with COVID-related cases were about three-quarters the number in January 2020. Hospitalization surges typically lag about a week behind infection surges so the county’s hospitalizations, while they may be leveling, have not yet plunged like the infection rate.

“It’s all about the semiconductors and we are in a war,” said Governor Kathy Hochul. “We are in a global war with other countries, China, Taiwan, Korea, and others who want to own the dominance of this industry. We’re not letting that happen.”

“I hope that our infection rate will continue to come down, but for now, we’re still identifying hundreds of cases of the virus every single day,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy as he announced 453 new COVID-19 cases on Friday morning.

Cheryl Vallee believes in the kindness of volunteers and the power of information to transform lives.

Two more Albany county residents — a man in his sixties and a woman in her eighties — died of COVID-19 on Wednesday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported on Thursday morning. This brings Albany County’s death toll from the virus to 495.

The biggest factor in the revenue jump is the state’s commitment to make Foundation Aid to schools whole. “It looks like that three-year phase-in, at least from the governor’s perspective, is going to happen, so that’s tremendous news for our school district and school districts throughout the state,” Guilderland’s assistant superintendent for business, Neil Sanders, said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday morning, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported that Albany County had a seven-day average positivity rate of 18.3 percent. On May 12, 2020, the World Health Organization advised governments that, before reopening, rates of positivity in testing  — that is, out of all tests conducted, how many came back positive for COVID-19 — should remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

Despite the funding shortfall, New York State was legally compelled to fully reopen its application portal last week following a court injunction.

At the close of this week’s Enterprise podcast, through tears, Jason Houck gave a shout-out to his two daughters.

“I love you both and hope to see you again someday,” he said.

Houck of East Berne chairs the New York Affiliate of the National Parents Organization.