Governor Kathy Hochul said on Friday she would talk to her health experts “and then make some decisions in the next few days, the next few weeks about the requirements that we have in place to keep us safe and whether or not they’re going to be as necessary.”

John Ervin, San Diego, California

Tom Ellis, Albany

Asked how her department was able to get into homes and serve seniors during the pandemic while other counties did not, Commissioner for Aging Deb Riitano said, “Albany County adjusted its business model to help people in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic. We did not have any reduction in services or programs.”

Serge Oktyabrsky, professor of Nanoscience at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has received $300,000 in funding from the United States Department of Energy to further develop scintillating detectors.

On Friday, Hochul announced the mask-or-vax requirement, initially set to expire on Feb. 1, would be extended until Feb. 10 and then re-evaluated in two-week increments. An appeal, now in New York’s middle-level court, has yet to be decided. On Monday, the court granted the health department’s request for a stay, which means the mask mandate can remain in effect through March 2.

The rollout of 5G cellular networks across the country is expected to majorly improve people’s online experience, including, eventually, those who have trouble getting online in the first place. 

The mask-or-vax mandate for indoor venues is being extended to Feb. 10, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Friday.

It was originally set to expire on Feb. 1, although Hochul has repeatedly said she may extend it, depending on coronavirus metrics.

Over the last two years, nursing homes in the county — which are required to inform the state, but not the county, of deaths — have not always informed the county’s health department in a timely manner.