ALBANY COUNTY — The county’s second death from COVID-19 was announced Wednesday morning by County Executive Daniel McCoy.

“With great sadness, I have to let everyone know we’ve had another death, a female in her 60s … My heart goes out to the family,” McCoy said at his daily press briefing.

The county’s first COVID-19 death was on Saturday. The patient was a man in his 70s; he died at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany after a short stay.

Both victims of the disease had “multiple underlying medical issues,” McCoy said.

He stressed, when announcing the first death, that people over the age of 70 should stay home and follow “Matilda’s Law,” issued last week by Governor Andrew Cuomo and named for his mother.

“Matilda’s Law” requires vulnerable New Yorkers to stay home and limit home visits to immediate family members or close friends in need of emergency assistance. If it is necessary to visit, the visitor should check his temperature first and not visit if he has a fever or cough. Both people should wear a mask for the duration of the visit.

The county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, quoted her own mother, a nurse, as she made a passionate plea.

Whalen’s mother would ask Whalen and her siblings as they were growing up: Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution?

“What side of history will you fall on?” asked Whalen on Sunday. “What will you do to be part of the solution?” Staying home, she said, “can mean the difference between life and death.”

Since the county announced the first two positive tests for COVID-19 on March 12, the numbers had been climbing steadily, until community testing stopped due to limited test kits from the federal government.

The tests are now being administered only to hospitalized patients and to exposed health-care workers.

McCoy and Whalen have repeatedly stressed the importance of wider testing. McCoy said Wednesday he had been “working around the clock,” seeking test kits from private providers and hoped to have secured some “in a few days.”

Also on Wednesday, Cuomo announced that New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is creating 500,000 test kits for the state at no charge amid a nationwide shortage of test kits and swabs. The first batch of test kits was delivered to the state on Monday and the state will receive an ongoing delivery of 25,000 kits per day, Cuomo announced.

“New York has been very aggressive on testing from day one — so far we have tested more than 220,000 New Yorkers with more than 15,000 new tests every day — and it has helped us slow the spread of this virus,” Cuomo said in a release on Wednesday from his office.

While New York City — the epicenter of the coronavirus in the United States — has been able to continue community testing, Albany County and other upstate counties have not been able to do so.

Cuomo also announced on Wednesday that the statewide number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 stands at 83,712. More than half of those cases — 47,439 — are from New York City. Other downstate counties also have high tallies.

Albany County’s number of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed to 228 on Wednesday with 439 people under mandatory quarantine and 241 people under precautionary quarantine.

Twenty-two people in Albany County are now hospitalized with the disease, with 12 adults in intensive care units. This puts the county’s hospitalization rate at just over 9.6 percent.

Based on the data, McCoy said, the daily rate of hospital admissions is increasing 33 percent in the Capital Region, and up to one-third of those admitted are going into intensive-care units.

Albany Medical Center announced on Wednesday that, late on Tuesday, it had accepted from downstate hospitals 14 transfer patients who have either confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. 

McCoy said on Wednesday that the county has no control over hospitals’ decisions but that his role is to “make sure we have enough beds for our residents.”

“Accepting transfer patients from other hospitals will not prevent Albany Med from caring for any local patients,” the hospital said in a statement. The center also noted an interdisciplinary team in Albany Med’s Incident Command Center has established a comprehensive plan for an increase, or surge, in patients as the governor had called for.

“We’re all New Yorkers,” said McCoy at Wednesday’s briefing. “We’ve got to take care of one another.”

McCoy also noted on Wednesday that 25 percent of the people infected with COVID-19 don’t know they have it. “They’re walking around, carrying symptoms,” he said.

Without community testing to identify who has COVID-19, Whalen has stressed throughout the week, all residents must act as if they are quarantined. The county’s health department keeps daily tabs on those who are legally quarantined.

McCoy noted on Wednesday that, the day before, the number of deaths in the United States, at over 3,500, has topped the death toll in China, where the coronavirus was first noted in December 2019.

“When are you going to take this serious? … When you see someone in your life pass away?” asked McCoy on Wednesday. “It’s not just about yourself.”

He also said, “Right now, we’re seeing higher numbers with first responders.” He noted that Albany firefighters as well as hospital workers had tested positive for COVID-19.

The county is bolstering its protections for homeless people, McCoy said on Wednesday. County-contracted shelters, he said, have become overcrowded. “We’re contracting with hotels,” he said. Homeless people sheltering there are having their temperatures taken and being evaluated, McCoy said.

“I do think most people are heeding our advice,” Whalen said on Wednesday. That advice, repeated daily at the press briefings is to: Stay home, wash hands and touched surfaces, and avoid gathering in groups — stay at least six feet away from other people.

“What is occurring in New York City is unprecedented,” said Whalen, stating, “Crowding is part of daily life there.” In Albany County, she said, the city is not as populated and people live further apart.

“One of the greatest dangers” of COVID-19, said Whalen, is 80 percent of the people who contract it have a mild case of the illness and so can spread it without knowing it.

If someone who has COVID-19 wears a surgical mask, it may make it less likely the disease will spread to others nearby, Whalen said. “Full protection needs a face shield.” She continued to stress, however, “It is most important to allocate those resources to those on the front line.”

During the week, McCoy and Whalen had commented on restaurants and bars in Albany County that were serving customers while the governor’s directive to “pause” until at least April 15 shuts down all non-essential businesses, allowing restaurants only to do curbside or delivery services.

McCoy threatened earlier in the week to name the offenders and said they could be fined or lose their liquor licenses. On Wednesday, he said that those businesses are now in compliance. “If it happens again,” McCoy said, “I will embarrass them socially.”

Throughout his daily briefings, McCoy has also scolded people for gathering in parks despite the city’s posting signs not to congregate or play close sports. On Wednesday, McCoy said, he saw a coach leading soccer practice in a park. “I leave that to law enforcement,” he said.

The county has posted videos on its website to help residents pass the time at home and it has also encouraged kids to make electronic greeting cards for nursing-home residents who can no longer have visitors.

For all COVID-19 questions and concerns, residents are encouraged to use United Way’s 2-1-1 hotline as well as the State Department of Health’s hotline at 888-364-3065.

McCoy concluded his press briefing on Friday with these words: “Pray for the families that have loved ones that are sick … Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”