“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.

“While New York as a whole is showing signs of statewide COVID infections possibly hitting their peak, that is clearly not the case for Albany County as we report nearly 1,600 new positive cases in a single day, the highest increase we’ve ever experienced since the pandemic started nearly two years ago,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

“This is the first case in Albany County and Capital Region history to use investigative genetic genealogy,” said Commander Adam Hornick. The modern technology was used to identify the remains of a man who had died in Bethlehem in 1981.

“We will no longer be doing contact tracing because the numbers of new daily positive cases is too high to keep up with in a time sensitive way,” Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen wrote in an email Wednesday morning, answering Enterprise questions. “We ask that those who test positive notify those who have been around them so they may take appropriate action,” Whalen said.