ALBANY COUNTY — The focus COVID-19 Monday, at both state and county levels, was on youth.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state is providing a new, separate allocation of 35,000 vaccines to be used at both private and state colleges and universities.

He also announced that graduation ceremonies for schools, colleges, and universities, effective May 1, will be allowed, both indoors and out, as long as restrictions on capacity and admittance are followed.

At Albany County’s Monday morning press conference, the county executive, Daniel McCoy, and health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, went over guidance the state’s health department had released for schools on Friday, and also said local high school and college students are being targeted for vaccination.

“We’re going to make it a mission to get into schools this week,” said McCoy, noting that the county is receiving 3,500 does of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Pfizer is the only one of the three approved vaccines that 16- and 17-year-olds can use; residents that age also need permission from a parent or guardian to be vaccinated.

McCoy said a weekend clinic at Bethlehem Central High School that vaccinated over 400 students was a “huge success” and that similar clinics would likely be held this week at Albany High School and Shaker High School.

Whalen noted that the Whitney Young Health Center in Albany has a number of school-based health centers, in particular at Albany and Watervliet high schools, and plans to conduct vaccinations there.

New DOH guidance

McCoy expressed consternation at the release of state guidance on distancing in school so many weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had changed its guidance from three feet to six feet in many cases.

Friday night, he said, the state released 24 pages of guidance. As he leafed through a print-out of the guidance, he said, “I wish someone in the health department would talk to people in the trenches, talk to the school districts, talk to our health department, work together.”

McCoy noted there are just nine weeks left in the school year and that districts are already struggling in getting students back to classrooms. He said Albany city schools started today.

He recalled that President Joe Biden said in early March his priority was getting students back to school.

McCoy shook his head at one of the state’s suggestions that schools could rent space to accommodate distancing. “Money’s tight,” he said.

Whalen described the guidance as “very complicated and very long.”

She noted that transmission of COVID-19 among teenagers was higher than among younger children.

Whalen summarized the guidance: “Schools and districts can choose to reduce the distancing to no less than three feet. They still recommend six feet between students and any adults.”

Six feet is still recommended also during meals and activities such as gym or when children are projecting their voices as when singing.

The guidance still mandates face masks and there is additional guidance on ventilation and filtration.

“The CDC has recommended elimination of physical barriers and they are strongly suggesting that districts consider testing within the school environment,” Whalen said.

She noted that the state guidance says recommendations should be made in consultation with stakeholders like parents, students, school staff and local health departments and is dependent on the risk in a particular community.

“So this is not a one-size-fits-all but rather a district-by-district decision,” concluded Whalen. “We look forward to working with our school districts on this. It is a lot to digest and a lot to implement. But they have been phenomenal partners so far.”

College vaccines

The state’s initial allocation will include 21,000 vaccines to be administered to SUNY students and 14,000 vaccines to be administered at private colleges. The vaccines will be administered to residential and non-commuter students who are leaving for the summer.

Speaking on Monday at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island, Cuomo announced that Suffolk as well as another Long Island school, SUNY Old Westbury, would serve as mass-vaccination sites.

“The 18-to-24 population is growing in positivity and many of them are in colleges and universities,” he said.

Later in the day, at a press briefing, Cuomo said, “College students have been told early on that this doesn’t affect young people as seriously, but ironically we’re seeing positivity go up among young people 18 to 24. Even if they believe that they can’t get hurt by COVID, they can transmit COVID, and they can transmit COVID to someone who can get hurt.”

The state’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, spoke at the Suffolk event, saying, “Vaccinating college students statewide before they return to their hometown communities at the end of the semester is the next step in this methodical process. It is the best way for students to protect themselves, their families and their communities.”

Zucker also said, “The race between the vaccine and the variants is very real and it is intensifying. The sooner we can hit critical mass, the faster we will stop COVID in its tracks.”

McCoy for months has pointed out that the age group with the highest infection rate in Albany County are residents in their twenties. Last week, he noted a 23-percent increase over the last few weeks in the infection rate for that group.

Whalen on Monday made a direct plea to parents, both as a health commissioner and as the mother of children aged 16, 18, and 20.

“I will ensure all three of my children are vaccinated,” she said. “I do this because I believe in the safety of the vaccine …. It really is the best way we can move forward.”

She also noted there is interest in obtaining emergency use authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds with Pfizer. “If we get guidance on that, that will be a further expansion.”

Additionally, Whalen urged parents to keep up with their children’s regular vaccination schedule. She noted there was a case of measles in Connecticut, and described measles “a highly, highly contagious virus that can have serious side effects.”

Graduation

The state guidance on commencement ceremonies sets parameters depending on the event size and location. Schools must follow safety protocols, including requiring face masks, social distancing, health screenings, and collection of contact tracing information.

For gatherings larger than 100 people indoors or 200 people outdoors, organizers must notify the local health department and require attendees to show proof of a recent negative test result or proof of completed immunization prior to entry.

The regulations depend on size.

Four outdoor ceremonies, if the crowd is over 500 people, the venue must not exceed 20 percent capacity. For 201 to 500 people, venues are limited to 33 percent of capacity. Gatherings of up to 200 people are limited to 50-percent of capacity.

For indoor ceremonies, if the crowd is over 150 people, venues are limited to 10 percent of capacity. For 101 to 150 people, the capacity limit is 33 percent. And for gatherings of up to 100 people, the venue cannot exceed 50-percent capacity.

Last year, many local schools held commencement ceremonies at drive-in theaters where families watched from their cars speeches given on the big screen.

Newest numbers

“Our rates of COVID are steady at this point,” said Whalen. “That is a concern that they are not starting to drop off … We continue to see hospitalizations in our county and unfortunately we continue to see deaths.”

McCoy had opened Monday’s press conference by announcing two more deaths on the heels of a third death announced on Saturday.

The two latest COVID-19 casualties were a woman in her sixties and a man in his eighties.

Their deaths bring the county’s toll to 369.

McCoy also announced 44 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the conty’s tally to 23,014.

Of the new cases, 23 did not have clear sources of infection identified, 17 had close contact with someone infected with the disease, three were health-care workers or residents of congregate living settings, and one reported traveling out of state.

The five-day average for new daily positives has decreased to 61.8 from 63.4. There are now 520 active cases in the county, down from 535 on Sunday.

The number of Albany Countyresidents under quarantine decreased to 1,080 from 1,175. So far, 73,866 residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 22,494 had tested positive and recovered. That is an increase of 49 recoveries since Sunday.

There were three new hospitalizations overnight and there are now 27 county residents hospitalized from the virus — a net decrease of two. There are currently six patients in intensive-care units, unchanged from yesterday.

Albany County’s infection rate, as of Sunday, as a seven-day rolling average, was 2.5 percent, according to the state’s dashboard.

Statewide, the infection rate, also as of Sunday, as a seven-day rolling average, was 3.2 percent.

According to the state’s vaccine tracker, as of Monday Night, Albany County has administered at least one dose of vaccine to 45.4 percent of its 307,117 residents. McCoy reported on Monday morning that 31.2 percent had been fully vaccinated.

Statewide, 37.9 percent of New Yorkers have received at least one dose while 24.9 percent have completed a vaccine series.