Two reports from the state comptroller’s office show that, while Wall Street is doing well in the midst of the pandemic — securities-industry profits grew by 82 percent in the first half of 2020 — Main Street is not.

We need to act regionally as we rebuild. This pandemic, and the economic fallout, have shown us all how wide the gap is — in schools, in housing, in health care — between white and Black communities. We should seize this crisis, which coincides with a nationwide racial reckoning, to work together as a county to rebuild in a way that offers hope to those who most need it.

Winter is going to be the season of the vaccine,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo at Wednesday’s press conference. “That may very well be the most challenging operation government has had to perform all through COVID.”

Forty-three states are now on the travel advisory list. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut also meet the criteria but are not on the list — “It would have a disastrous effect on the economy,” says the governor. However, non-essential travel to those states is discouraged.

As New York State tests heavily in COVID-19 hotspots, it reached a record of test results in a single day on Saturday, nearly 160,000.

Albany County continues to have an uptick in COVID-19 cases as Governor Andrew Cuomo looks ahead to distributing vaccines, requesting a meeting with the president.

On Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that state aid would be withheld from schools that remain open in so-called “red zones,” where the coronavirus is prevalent, and, further, that municipalities in those red zones that are not enforcing closures will also have state aid withheld.

While Governor Andrew Cuomo is still being criticized for large numbers of nursing-home deaths during the height of the pandemic in New York, an association of long-term care facilities is pushing for less restrictive regulations for testing and for visitors.

“There are some states that have followed the politics of denial and have turned it into science fiction,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday. “The theory was: If you test less, you will find fewer cases, and if you find fewer cases, you have less of a problem. That’s almost a laughable concept.”

“A rifle is more targeted than a shotgun, right?” said Governor Andrew Cuomo on the value of thorough testing for COVID-19. “Other states see the statewide number increase, and then they have to do statewide closings because they can’t target the clusters.”