ALBANY COUNTY — Restaurants outside of New York City can move to 75-percent capacity on March 19, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday.

“The numbers are down; when the numbers are down, we adjust the economic reopening valve,” said Cuomo of falling COVID-19 infection rates at a press briefing on Sunday. 

He said that Connecticut will move to full capacity for restaurants on March 19 and Massachusetts had already done so on March 1.

New York City restaurants will go from 50 percent to 75 percent capacity on March 19.

Cuomo also said he would sign the legislature’s emergency powers bill on Sunday. He has issued close to 100 executive orders related to the pandemic in the past year and will be able to modify those but not act unilaterally.

“With the new law that the legislature passed, we will make this public, the legislature has five days to review the change and we’ll discuss it with any members of the legislature or local governments who have issues,” Cuomo said. “Legislature has the ability to cancel it with 50 percent of the vote.”

Assemblyman Chris Tague was among Republicans criticizing the bill, calling it a fake repeal of Cuomo’s executive powers.

“Assembly Democrats are rewarding his abhorrent behavior and decision-making by letting him retain control of making decisions on the fate of restaurants, schools, gyms and small businesses across the state — including shutting them down,” Tague said in a statement on March 5.

Tague was referencing allegations from women claiming sexul harassment from Cuomo and also March 4 stories in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, saying Cuomo aids had rewritten a report from the state’s health department to hide the known magnitude of the nursing-home death toll.

Cuomo reiterated at Sunday’s press briefing that he would not resign as governor and stressed the importance of due process.

“There are some legislators who suggest that I resign because of accusations that are made against me,” Cuomo said on Sunday. “I was elected by the people of the state, I wasn’t elected by politicians. I’m not going to resign because of allegations.”

Two women, former staffers, had independently accused Cuomo of sexuual harassment and then a third woman he hadn’t known said — with pictures to prove it — that he had kissed her at a wedding reception without her permission. The matter is being investigated by Attorney General Letitia James.

“This is not about me and accusations about me; the attorney general can handle that,” Cuomo said on Sunday. “This is about doing the people’s business, and this next six months I believe will determine the future trajectory for New York State. What we do in this budget, how successful we are in rebuilding, how positive we portray this state going forward, how resilient we appear.”

Newest numbers

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced on Sunday morning, in a release, that another county resident  — a man in his nineties — has succumbed to COVID-19. This brings the county’s COVID-19 death toll to 360.

He also announced 63 new cases, bringing the county’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 20,922.

Of the new cases, 42 did not have clear sources of infection identified at this time, 16 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, and five were health-care workers or residents of congregate settings.

The five-day average for new daily positives has increased to 65.2 from 61.8. There are now 557 active cases in the county, down from 560 on Saturday.

The number of Albany County residents under quarantine decreased to 1,484 from 1,525. So far, 65,720 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 20,365 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 65 recoveries since Saturday.

There were four new hospitalizations overnight, and there are now 35 county residents hospitalized from the virus. There are currently three patients in intensive-care units, one fewer than yesterday.

As of Saturday, as a seven-day average, the Capital Region has an infection rate of 1.94 percent. Statewide, the positivity rate was 3.19 percent.

Albany County, as of Saturday, as a seven-day rolling average, has an infection rate of 2.0 percent, according to the county’s dashboard.