ALBANY COUNTY — As Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced another death from COVID-19 and 171 new cases on Friday morning, he also said he’d heard athletes, coaches, and parents were planning protests Saturday on the county’s decision not to allow high-risk sports until the infection rate decreases to 4 percent.

Currently, Albany County has an infection rate of 6.9 percent.

McCoy said he’d bring hot drinks and doughnuts to the protest.

“I’ll be there with you,” he said. “I get it.”

But he also said he supported the decision by the county’s health department. The state left it up to local health departments to decide if high-risk sports would be allowed. Locally, only Rensselaer County is allowing them.

“I have to make sure I did everything in my power to save someone’s life, not gain someone’s vote,” said McCoy.

Referring to the county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, he went on, “I stand by Dr. Whalen … this is about science. This is about the data. It’s not about the politics.”

In the more than six months between March, when Albany County had its first cases of COVID-19, and September, there were 331 hospitalizations and 134 COVID-related deaths, McCoy noted.

In the almost four months between October and now, Albany County has had 1,059 hospitalizations and 169 deaths. 

McCoy noted that treatment has improved in that time period, using his recently hospitalized brother as an example. His brother, he said, had “five cocktails” to combat COVID-19 during his hospitalization.

“In that time period before, he would be dead,” McCoy said.

He also noted that younger people are now dying of the disease. In May, 2 percent of the county deaths from COVID-19 were people in their fifties. In December, 14 percent were in their fifties.

McCoy urged coaches to educate themselves and turned the challenge back on the would-be protesters: “We didn’t say ‘no’ to sports…” McCoy said. “You stop this infection rate … you can play sports.”

Cuomo plans reopening

At his press conference on Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo continued to highlight that the infection rate in New York State is declining from its post-holiday high and said the economy needs to reopen.

“New York City restaurants, on our current trajectory, we can open indoor dining at 25 percent on Valentine’s Day,” Cuomo said.

He also said, “Going forward, we are very excited about the possibility of reopening venues with testing. We demonstrated it in Buffalo at the Buffalo Bills playoff game.”

Seven-thousand fans, each of whom tested negative, were allowed into a 70,000-capacity stadium, resulting in “virtually no cases of spread from that game,” Cuomo said on Wednesday.

“We’re going to extend it in New York State safe marriage receptions. A promise of marital bliss is returning,” said Cuomo.

Events must be approved by the local health department. There will be a 50-percent capacity limit and no more than 150 people can attend. Everyone must be tested before the event.

“We are developing more rapid testing capacity all across the state,” said Cuomo. “We’re also developing an app which a person, once they receive the test, can have on the app. We’re excited about this.”

He concluded, “You propose on Valentine’s Day and then you can have the wedding ceremony March 15, up to 150 people. People will actually come to your wedding because you can tell them with the testing it will be safe. Everybody there will have been tested, everyone will be safe.”

Vaccine

Cuomo announced that, with the help of the National Guard, Yankee Stadium is being set up as a venue for a state-run mass vaccination site.

The state is getting another 200,000 doses of vaccine this week, Cuomo said, and next week will be getting 16-percent more doses from the federal government for the next three weeks.

So far, he said, 1.7 million vaccinations have been administered in New York State.

Cuomo urged, “Any local government that needs help in providing social-equity efforts, let us know. There’s two issues on social equity. People have to have access. Poor communities, Black community, Latino community and they have to accept it and get past the vaccine hesitancy, which we are seeing and it is a very real issue.”

Data released by the governor’s office on Friday said the Capital Region has administered 102,895 of the 124,915 doses it has received — which is 82 percent.

Statewide, 78 percent of doses have been administered.

So far, Cuomo said, 73 percent of health-care workers have been vaccinated. He again stressed the importance of adequate staffing for hospitals.

“The UK strain, the Brazil strain, the South Africa strain — and medical experts are saying these strains could take over. They could be dominant. They could increase the infection rate,” said Cuomo. “If any area’s hospital capacity hits 85 percent, then we go back to restrictions, right, because hospital capacity is the red line. That’s when you’re in the danger zone. Hospital capacity, that’s why I’m so persistent on the vaccination of health-care workers.”

According to the Newest numbers

Albany County’s latest victim of COVID-19 was a woman in her fifties, McCoy announced. Her death brings the county’s toll to 304.

As of Friday morning, Albany County has had 18,009 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including the 171 new ones, McCoy announced.

Of the new cases, 111 did not have a clear source of infection identified, 49 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, 10 are health-care workers or residents of congregate settings, and one traveled out of the state.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 176 from 180.4. There are now 1,550 active cases in the county, up from 1,390 yesterday

The number of Albany County residents under mandatory quarantine increased to 2,966 from 2,611. So far, 53,256 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 16,459 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of six recoveries since Thursday.

There were 13 new hospitalizations overnight, and there are 162 county residents currently hospitalized from the virus, one fewer than on Thursday. There are still 11 patients in intensive-care units.

Among the state’s 10 regions, the Capital Region is still tied with the Mohawk Valley for the worst rate of available hospital beds, at 24 percent. Currently, 447 Capital Region residents, which is 0.04 percent of the region’s population, are hospitalized with the virus.

Statewide, 0.04 percent of New Yorkers are hospitalized with COVID-19, leaving 33 percent of hospital beds available.

The Capital Region’s availability of ICU beds has increased to 21 percent, tying with New York City. Only Long Island has a worse rate, at 20 percent. Currently, 201 of the Capital Region’s 255 ICU beds are filled.

Statewide, 26 percent of ICU beds are available.

The Capital Region has an infection rate, as of Thursday, based on a seven-day average, of 5.50 percent.

Statewide, the positivity rate is 5.35 percent.

Albany County, as of Thursday, has a seven-day rolling average, has an infection rate of 6.4 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.