The county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, said her department could not have had the response it has had without the Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

The virus is indiscriminately killing people, particularly the old and vulnerable. And yet, isolated as we now must be, people are sharing and helping others.

As the governor announces Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will make free test kits, Albany County has still not been able to procure kits to reestablish community testing for COVID-19.

Community Caregivers, based in Guilderland, a not-for-profit that uses volunteers to help people stay in their homes, is currently providing a number of services.

Albany County currently has 517 people under mandatory quarantine and 234 people under precautionary quarantine. People under both kinds of quarantine follow the same regimen.

A plea to residents not to flush wet wipes. 

ALBANY COUNTY — As New York, like the rest of the nation, is faced with a shortage of ventilators to help patients with severe cases of COVID-19 to continue to breathe, a Cohoes company has come up with a machine to fill the gap.

The Helderberg Ambulance Squad has enlisted volunteers and is asking for more to help sew gowns to be worn by squad members as they work in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The gowns will be waterproof and washable, meaning they can be reused. “ ... We didn’t ever wear gowns that often so we didn’t have enough [when the virus hit],” Mildred Zuk, an emergency medical technician, told The Enterprise. 

Millie Zuk, Helderberg Ambulance

“A lot of other needs are arising,” said Elizabeth Whalen, Albany County’s health commissioner, on Monday as the National Guard prepared to deliver food to quarantined residents and the county executive announced that he asked the governor to waive state laws to enable IDAs to make direct loans to businesses.