Governor Kathy Hochul, on Monday, Sept. 6, said that the state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, has designated COVID-19 a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health under the HERO Act, requiring all employers to implement workplace safety plans.

The precipitous rise in COVID-19 cases, Whalen said, includes a rise in “breakthrough infections” — that is, vaccinated people getting sick with the virus. In April, breakthrough cases were very low, she said. Whalen cited rough data, which shows, of the 1,870 COVID-19 cases in Albany County between Aug. 1 and 31, eight-hundred-and-twenty-six of them were of vaccinated people. “That is a very high rate of breakthrough ...,” said Whalen. “This is a concern.”

The moratorium on evictions is in effect until Jan. 15. The new law keeps in place all protections of the Tenant Safe Harbor Act for residential tenants who are suffering financial hardship as a result of the pandemic; it also adds protections on commercial evictions.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported in his daily release on Wednesday morning five new hospitalizations, meaning 30 county residents are now hospitalized with the virus — a net increase of three. There are now 10 patients in intensive-care units, up from eight yesterday.

ALBANY COUNTY — As Albany County experienced its fourth COVID-19 death this week — a woman in her fifties — Governor Kathy Hochul was in Buffalo, her home turf, announcing plans for unvaccinated school staff to be tested weekly and also plans to administer booster shots through local health departments.

An unvaccinated Marin County teacher had COVID symptoms on May 19 but continued to teach, testing positive for the virus on May 21. A total of 27 cases were identified, according to a study posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC produced a chart showing where her 24 students sat (22 of them were tested); those closest to the teacher, in the front row, were all infected.

On Saturday, the county’s executive, Daniel McCoy, reported on the death of a woman in her seventies; on Sunday, he reported a man in his fifties and a man in his sixties had died.

Albany County has 142,884 households; more than a third — 52,331 households — are low-income. About the same number — 52,702 households — are rental. Nearly a quarter of Albany County’s households — 33,695 — are low-income rental households and nearly a seventh of the county’s households — 20,135 — are low-income, rent-burdened households.

ALBANY COUNTY — For the second time in as many weeks, another Albany County resident has died of COVID-19.

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy made the announcement in a Saturday morning press release. This brings the county’s death toll from the virus to 390.

ALBANY COUNTY — Long-held anticipation was answered this week as on Monday, the Food and and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech, and on Tuesday New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, said fighting