On Tuesday evening, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement saying, We are reviewing the CDC’s new recommendations closely in consultation with federal and state health experts.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the newly allocated $15 million, “Only about 6.7 percent of the state has new positive cases above the average and the vaccination rate below the state average. So we’re focusing on those 117 ZIP codes.”

The Capital Region, of which Albany County is a part, has the highest COVID-19 infection rate of any of the state’s 10 regions.

While the single Albany County death this week from COVID-19 was a sobering reminder that, still, the virus is fatal, most of the numbers — statewide and at the county level — have been encouraging.

Throughout the week, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy has not reported more than four new cases of COVID-19 in any single day. And on Tuesday, for the first time in 10 months, he reported zero new cases. On Wednesday, McCoy announced that the county had marked another milestone with 60 percent of its 307,117 residents fully vaccinated.

The emergency was declared on March 7, 2020 to fight COVID-19 and had come under fire in recent months, particularly from Republicans, as an abuse of power by the governor. The announcement ended a week, statewide and in Albany County, in which infection rates and hospitalizations remained low and vaccination rates inched upward. The week before, Cuomo announced the statewide lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions.

Local sales tax collections, which had dipped precipitously a year ago as the result of restrictions to contain the pandemic, in May increased by 57.8 percent over last May, the highest one-month increase in recent history, the state’s comptroller announced.

While statewide, New York reached the 70-percent mark of adults with at least one dose of vaccine, lifting restrictions, vaccination rates vary across the state. On Friday, the state’s vaccine tracker started listing the rates according to ZIP code.

In Albany County, the lowest rate of residents who have received one dose is 1222 in Albany at 7.7 percent and the highest is 12007 in Alcove at 100 percent.

Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen warned, “I don’t think we’ve crossed the finish line yet …. I do not believe at this point herd immunity has been achieved and I think that this is something we can continue to work towards.”

“From the moment this vaccine was available, our members and staff worked very hard to get it to where it was needed the most. It was through their efforts, and those of our County Executive, our Department of Health and our amazing Medical Reserve Corps that we are able to celebrate this milestone today,” said Andrew Joyce, chairman of the Albany County Legislature. According to the state’s vaccine tracker, as of Tuesday evening, 74.5 percent of Albany County’s residents aged 18 and older had received at least one dose of vaccine.