About 10 percent of Albany County residents currently being tested for COVID-19 have the disease.

ALBANY — Albany Medical Center is among the first hospitals in the country to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval to use convalescent blood-plasma therapy to experimentally treat critically ill patients who are infected with COVID-19. 

The census bureau updates participation numbers regularly on its website and encourages communities to challenge each other. Albany County’s rate was 44.6 percent. Here are the self-response rates for the towns covered by The Enterprise, with the highest scores listed first: Guilderland is at 52.5 percent, New Scotland is at 50.9 percent, Knox is at 45.7 percent, Westerlo is at 36.3 percent, Berne is at 31.0 percent, and Rensselaerville is at 26.3 percent.

As Albany County’s death toll from COVID-19 climbed to nine this week, county officials are pleased that community testing has started again

On Wednesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the State Department of Labor to immediately make $600 in additional weekly unemployment benefits available to all New Yorkers.

With people stuck at home, rates of domestic abuse are on the rise, but Albany County’s Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center is getting fewer calls than normal. “People may be afraid to go to the hospital due to fears of contracting COVID-19,” Director Karen Ziegler told The Enterprise. 

The Hilltowns’ annual Memorial Day Parade, put on by the Helderberg Kiwanis Club, has been canceled over concerns of the coronavirus pandemic. The American Legion in Voorheesville and the Parade Committee in Altamont have also cancelled their parades. 

“Internationally and globally, air traffic is down well over 90 percent … That has been devastating to the industry but it is a necessary pain to go through to deal with this virus and get it under control,” said Phil Calderone, chief executive officer of Albany International Airport.

The State Education Department has cancelled the June Regents exams and on Tuesday issued guidelines for graduation.