ALBANY COUNTY — In a roller-coaster week, the percentage of positive tests for COVID-19 in the Capital Region went from among the lowest in the state on Friday to the highest on Monday.

At Wednesday’s press briefing, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy sounded the alarm because the county had 44 new cases, the highest one-day total since May 20. The county had reached its pinnacle of new cases on April 25 with 80 cases of coronavirus disease-2019.

On Wednesday, the county’s five-day average for new daily positive cases nearly doubled to 16 from 8.8 on Tuesday.

“It’s alarming,” said McCoy on Wednesday. He also said the last thing he wants is to see businesses have to shut down again.

“This next week will be telling me what direction we’re heading,” he said.

“We do not want to see people needlessly dying from this disease that could have been prevented by something as simple as wearing a face mask, washing our hands, and keeping social distance,” said Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen.

As the 10 regions of the state open in four phases, based on required metrics, the economy is still hurting. This week, several state initiatives were announced to feed, house, and insure New Yorkers suffering from the coronavirus shutdown.

On Tuesday, the governor and legislative leaders announced an emergency rental assistance program to prevent evictions of low-income New Yorkers hurt by the shutdown.

The program, which is designed to reach those with the greatest need, will provide direct aid for tenants who lost income due to the pandemic. The program is funded through the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which is part of the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) Act.

Applications will be available on Thursday, July 16. The application period will be open for two weeks. Residents can apply any time during the two-week period.

On Wednesday, the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance announced more than $100 million in additional emergency food assistance. About 700,000 low-income New Yorkers enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP and formerly known as food stamps, will get the maximum allowable benefit for July to help them avoid food insecurity.

This is the fifth month in a row that all SNAP recipients have received the maximum benefit, which is $194 for a single person and $646 for a family of four. About half of all households receiving SNAP will receive additional benefits for July.

Also on Wednesday, the state’s agriculture commissioner, Richard Ball, said that the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York has purchased more than 1.1 million pounds of surplus food from New York farmers since the start of the Nourish New York initiative in early May.

Diary products, vegetables, and meat have been provided to more than 45,000 households in need in the Capital, North Country, Mohawk Valley, and Hudson Valley regions.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that the special enrollment period for uninsured New Yorkers will be extended for another 30 days, through Aug. 15. New Yorkers can apply for coverage through insurers or through the states health-insurance marketplace: NY State of Health.

“While we’re continuing to move in the right direction,” said Cuomo in making the announcement, “we know we’re not out of the woods yet and, by extending the open enrollment period, we’re making sure New Yorkers who need affordable health-care coverage can get it and help keep themselves and their families safe.”

Not all the news was bad. On Wednesday, Cuomo congratulated New Yorkers on the state being named the most responsible in fighting COVID-19 in a study by The Truth About Insurance.

“The last 137 days have been hell for New York as we were the epicenter of this pandemic,” said Cuomo in making the announcement. “However, New Yorkers stood as one, acted responsibly and — as many other states in this nation are now grappling with new spikes of this insidious virus — the beast, for now, has been brought to bay in this state.”

Travel

In keeping the beast at bay, New York is requiring people who have traveled to states with high rates of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for 14 days when they arrive in New York.

On Monday, Cuomo announced that enforcement teams will be stationed at Port Authority and regional airports, including Albany’s, to be sure travelers from the listed states complete a form from the state’s health department. The form is now available electronically.

Albany County’s airport will have enforcement teams on site daily based on daily arrivals from the listed states.

Travelers who leave the airport without completing the form will be subject to a $2,000 fine and may be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete mandatory quarantine.

On June 24, Cuomo along with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut, announced that travelers from eight states would need to self-quarantine; that number grew to 16 and then 19 states. On Tuesday, Delaware was removed from the list and four new states were added.

The 22 states currently listed are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.

The criteria for required quarantine is based upon a seven-day rolling average of positive tests in excess of 10 percent, or number of positive cases exceeding 10 per 100,000 residents.

“New York’s success in fighting the COVID-19 virus is under two threats: lack of compliance and the virus coming to New York from other states with increasing infection rates,” Cuomo said in announcing the enforcement teams. “We have already implemented a quarantine order for travelers coming in from states with the highest infection rates, but we are experiencing non-compliance with the order that can lead to outbreaks and threaten the tremendous progress we've already made.”

Additionally, travelers coming to New York from designated states through other means of transport, including trains and cars, must fill out the traveler form online.

Whalen said that her health department has seen people come back from one of the listed states, feel fine, and test negative. But then, after having exposed others, they test positive a few days later.

She stressed the importance of following the 14-day quarantine period.

McCoy said that, in Albany County, snowbirds are coming back and not self-quarantining thereby spreading COVID-19 without knowing it.

County uptick

Last Friday, McCoy had said, “Numbers speak” as he proudly noted that the Capital Region was tied with the Southern Tier, for second lowest in percentage of positive tests, at 0.7 percent; the very lowest was the North County, which on Wednesday was at .03 percent.

On Monday, McCoy noted the state tabulation put the Capital Region the highest of the state’s 10 regions at 2 percent. On Wednesday, that number had gone up to 2.1 percent from the day before — still the highest in the state.

The next highest was New York City, at 1.3 percent. The city had been the epicenter of the disease and is weeks behind the Capital Region in reopening.

Commenting on the high number of daily positive tests in April and May, McCoy asked on Wednesday, “What do April and May dates have in common with today? We broke it down and looked at it … They’re all around holidays.”

He named Passover and Easter in April and Mother’s Day in May and said the common thread was “people gathering together in large groups.”

A Fourth of July party in Albany attracted up to 200 people who were not social-distancing and not wearing masks, McCoy said.

There are six confirmed COVID-19 cases from that party so far, he said.

Whalen said the party was in the backyards of a number of homes on Hudson Avenue in Albany. She said the party-goers were young, mostly born around the year 2000. People that age are often, but not always, asymptomatic or have just mild symptoms of COVID-19, she said.

“If you were at that party … please get tested,” said Whalen, adding, “We need to stop this. We need to make sure that those that are infected don’t continue to spread this disease to others.”

McCoy went on to say that four of the new 44 cases were from county residents who arrived back in Albany County on flights from Georgia, Florida, Michigan, and Cancun.

Two more positive cases were traced back to people who drove to Albany County from South Carolina and Florida.

Additionally, eight of the new cases were residents at St. Peter’s Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Albany. “One worker went on vacation to Georgia … came back, and infected the work area,” said McCoy.

The state this week is opening up nursing homes to visitors for the first time since mid-March, with strict parameters. State guidelines require a nursing home to be free of COVID-19 for 28 days. Only two visitors for each resident may visit at one time, and visitors must have their temperature taken before entering and use a face mask and socially distance themselves while in the nursing home.

Also, no more than 10 percent of the residents of a nursing home may receive visitors at any one time. And nursing homes must develop a plan for visitors and provide it to the state’s health department.

“We’re going to do this smartly, safely, and to protect our residents and the workers at our nursing home,” said McCoy on Wednesday. He also said, “If one worker comes back positive, it sets the clock and they can’t open up for 28 days.”

The other half of the new 44 county COVID-19 cases were “scattered community spread,” said Whalen, noting her department investigates every case.

Whalen noted that, while national news has focused on hospitalizations and deaths being low, “First we saw the spike in cases. Then a week to two weeks later, we saw a spike in hospitalizations and started to see deaths.”

Albany County currently has just two hospitalized residents and the hospitalization rate remains at 0.09 percent. There have been no new deaths reported since June 24, keeping the death toll for Albany County at 121.

The county has 2,053 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 544 people under quarantine. There are currently 77 active cases, up from 38 yesterday. So far, 6,176 county residents have completed quarantine, with 1,976 of them having tested positive and recovered.

Whalen, who has been a doctor for 28 years, said, “COVID is a novel virus … We are constantly learning about how the virus behaves.” She noted that the public is getting information about the virus “in real time” and that advice from medical experts can change based on evidence, science, and numbers.

“People are saying therefore they’ve been misled or that information was purposely miscommunicated and that doesn’t help any of us … in our cause to stem this,” said Whalen.

“We can’t do this,” said McCoy of stopping the spread of the virus, “without people buying into this.”

Whalen noted Albany County had no uptick in COVID-19 cases after Memorial Day. “The public was still mindful of the message of self-protection … When we didn’t see spikes, people became complacent … This is what we feared might happen and it did come to pass so now we need to double back on these messages.”

Whalen also reiterated, “This isn’t a light switch. We don’t say, ‘Bam, we’re open’ and everybody goes back to normal … When people heard ‘opening up,’ they threw that light switch.”

McCoy, too, stressed the importance of following protocols. He noted that a recent Siena poll showed 73 percent of New Yorkers wear a mask in public but only 56 percent follow social distancing. “We need to improve,” he said.

McCoy also said, “Stop thinking of yourself. Think of your neighbors.”