Nine new vaccination sites will open, including one at the Empire State Plaza’s concourse in Albany. With the first wave of the pandemic, in March of 2020, Cuomo used a state of emergency to issue executive orders. Currently, with no state of emergency declared, he said,  “Local governments are now trying to figure out how to deal with the local guidance.”

For the seven days running from July 25 to July 31, the CDC says, Albany County has an average of 54.34 cases per 100,000 population. Other nearby counties that, as of Sunday, were labeled as having “substantial” transmission were: Rensselaer at 66.79, Saratoga at 88.75, Schenectady at 59.24, and Schoharie at 54.84 per 100,000 population.

Beyond Sept. 30, the USDA will continue to support homeowners experiencing financial hardship due to the pandemic by making loss mitigation options available to help keep them in their homes. Homeowners and renters can visit www.consumerfinance.gov/housing for information on their relief options, protections, and key deadlines from federal agencies.

Two Capital Region federal credit unions — SEFCU and CAP COM — are on the verge of a merger that will create a new $8 billion credit union.

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is looking for citizens to help it conduct its annual Summer Wild Turkey Sighting Survey.

Governments this week started announcing they would require vaccination, and at the same time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its May guidance on masks, stating that, because of the Delta variant, people living in an area of substantial or high transmission should mask indoors in public.

My brother-in-law, who lives in Vietnam, urgently wants to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — but can’t. Vaccine in Vietnam is hard to come by as it is in many nations around the world.

On Tuesday evening, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement saying, We are reviewing the CDC’s new recommendations closely in consultation with federal and state health experts.”