Some good numbers on Thursday came from the state’s Department of Labor, which announced the fifth straight month of declining unemployment rates in New York.

GUILDERLAND — The school district here, which started surveillance testing for COVID-19 on Jan. 15, announced today that a student at Pine Bush Elementary School had tested positive.

“I just don’t want to wait that long,” one elderly woman with diabetes told The Enterprise when asked about scheduling a traditional appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sounded the alarm on the highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom, hastening the urgency for vaccination distribution.

On the revenue side, Guilderland has calculated state aid for next year’s budget, ranging from $20 million to nearly $25 million. Under the state-set tax-levy limit, the most Guilderland can raise in property taxes is about $76,000,000.

GUILDERLAND — Students in eighth through 12th grade here will move to fully remote learning because of staffing shortages caused by COVID-19.

“January continues to be on track to be the deadliest month since the outbreak started,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

Residents may dial 2-1-1 to learn about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and how to sign up for a vaccination.

The governor wrote to Pfizer on Monday to see if New York State could purchase COVID-19 vaccine directly from the company that made it.

On Sunday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that, for the second day in a row, New York State has another case of the highly transmissible strain of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom. This latest case is in Westchester County, bringing the state’s total of B.1.1.7 cases to 18.