ALBANY COUNTY — In a week when some countries are experiencing serious outbreaks of COVID-19 and when the United States as a whole looks like it will fall short of President Joe Biden’s goal of 70 percent of adults being vaccinated by the Fourth of July, New York State and Albany County continue to inch forward with vaccination while hospitalization and infection rates have reached new lows.

Throughout the week, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy has not reported more than four new cases of COVID-19 in any single day. And on Tuesday, for the first time in 10 months, he reported zero new cases.

On Wednesday, McCoy announced that the county had marked another milestone with 60 percent of its 307,117 residents fully vaccinated.

“As our vaccination rates continue to climb, we’re also seeing the other health data improve — we now have the lowest number of people quarantined since the pandemic started, a 5-day average of 1.6 daily infections and only 10 active cases that we’re monitoring,” McCoy said in a statement as he released the newest numbers.

“Our top priority,” he went on, “continues to get even more people vaccinated, especially those from our minority and rural communities.” The county no longer holds massive vaccination clinics but, rather, small pop-up clinics.

Coeymans is one of the areas still lagging in vaccination and on Thursday, July 1, a clinic will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Coeymans Hollow firehouse, where Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available. There will also be shots available at the Empire State Plaza in Albany ahead of the Fourth of July fireworks show.

The state’s vaccine tracker on Wednesday showed that 53.7 percent of New Yorkers had completed a vaccine series and 59.79 had received at least one dose; also, 71.9 percent of New Yorkers 18 and older had received at least a first shot.  The tracker also reported that 64.7 percent of Albany County residents had received at least one dose while 75,4 percent of those over 18 had.

Exactly a week ago, on Thursday, June 24, Governor Andrew Cuomo ended the state of emergency declared on March 7, 2020. He had lifted many pandemic restrictions the week before when 70 percent of adult New Yorkers had received at least one dose of vaccine.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has urged even people who are fully vaccinated to wear masks. The guidance comes as the highly infectious Delta variant, first identified in India in October, has now spread to 85 countries. It now accounts for one in five infections in the United States, up from one in 10 the week before.

In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said that fully-vaccinated people need not wear masks, even indoors. The CDC has not changed that guidance. 

On Monday, however, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health “strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.” Roughly half of Los Angeles County residents are vaccinated.

“Public Health strongly recommends people wear masks indoors in settings such as grocery or retail stores; theaters and family entertainment centers, and workplaces when you don't know everyone’s vaccination status,” the Los Angeles  directive said. “Until we better understand how and to who the Delta variant is spreading, everyone should focus on maximum protection with minimum interruption to routine as all businesses operate without other restrictions, like physical distancing and capacity limits.”

Fully vaccinated people appear to be well protected from infections with Delta variants, the directive said; however, people with only one vaccine dose of Pfizer or Moderna are not as well-protected. The smaller number of COVID-19 infections identified in people who are fully vaccinated have been mild illnesses.

On Monday, scientists reported that the messenger RNA vaccines — those made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — set off a persistent immune reaction in the body that may protect a vaccinated person for years. This depends on the virus and its variants not evolving too radically. The journal Nature posted the unedited manuscript.

Studying 14 individuals, the scientists found that people who had had the virus and were then vaccinated might not need booster shots even if the virus does make a significant transformation.

In-person meetings resume

One of the more than 100 executive orders that ended last Thursday was one that allowed municipalities to hold virtual rather than in-person meetings.

On Tuesday, Albany County legislators returned to  the county’s office building for the first i9n-person committee meetings since the pandemic began in March 2020.

“The work has never stopped during COVID-19 but our legislators are ready to be back together, collaborating face to face and continuing the hard work of the county,” Chairman Andrew Joyce said in a statement. “While we are excited to see this return to normalcy, we must remember that COVID is still a threat. We will continue to do our due diligence to ensure that our members and the public remain safe, and discussions are ongoing as we enter this transition.” 

All county legislative meetings are live streamed via the legislature’s YouTube Channel. To view the agendas, visit the Albany County Legislature’s website at www.albanycounty.com/legislature.

Guilderland, like towns across the state, is resuming its in-person meetings.

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber, who has provided daily email updates throughout the pandemic, wrote in his Wednesday email, “While capacity and other restrictions have been lifted at Town facilities, the Town justice court continues to operate under restrictions imposed by the State judicial system.”

This means that occupancy is limited to the lesser of half of the posted capacity or the number of people who can safely socially distance in the courtroom. And, masks are to be worn.

Barber also noted that the state’s health department provides businesses with the option of requiring face masks, temperature checks, capacity limits or other restrictions.

On Sunday, Barber wrote that he would likely end his daily missives on Thursday, July 1.

“I recognize that the pandemic is not over, but unlike more than 350 days ago, when I last considered ending these daily updates, the current situation is much better, with plentiful vaccines and a rapid return to normalcy,” Barber wrote in his Sunday email. “While there are concerns about Delta variant, and the fact that almost 1 in 4 adults in the county remain unvaccinated, the risk for fully vaccinated persons is very low and there have been no transports of positive COVID-19 cases for several weeks by a town ambulance.”

Moratoriums extended on evictions and foreclosures

The nationwide moratorium on evictions had been set to expire this week, on June 30. The CDC had instituted the moratorium in September to prevent masses of evictions in the midst of the economic downturn caused by pandemic restrictions.

On Tuesday, June 29, the CDC posted notice of a one-month extension of the moratorium.

“CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has signed an extension to the eviction moratorium further preventing the eviction of tenants who are unable to make rental payments,” the notice says. “The moratorium that was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2021 is now extended through July 31, 2021 and this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation’s public health. Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Members of Congress had written to Biden and Walensky on June 22, urging the extension: “Evictions take lives and push households deeper into poverty, impacting everything from health outcomes to educational attainment,” they wrote. “As workers and families across the country are just beginning to recoup from the trauma and economic hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take all necessary action to protect them from becoming unhoused during this vulnerable time.”

The letter cited the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimation that 6 million renter households are behind on their rent and at risk of eviction.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture extended through July 31 the moratorium on foreclosures from properties financed by the USDA Single-Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans.

“The United States is recovering from a nationwide housing affordability crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. To support this recovery, USDA is taking this important action today to extend relief to the hundreds-of-thousands of individuals and families holding USDA Single-Family Housing loans,” USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson said in a statement. “Actions like the one we’re announcing today are part of President Biden’s strategy to get Americans vaccinated and the economy back on track. Together, these coordinated actions will enable more homeowners with federally-backed mortgages to remain in their homes and build equity for years to come as we transition back to a functional housing market.”

The department noted that the American Rescue Plan Act will, through September 2022, provide $100 million in rental assistance for very low-income tenants and $39 million to refinance direct loans under the Single-Family Housing Loan Program and the Single-Family Housing Repair Loan program.

The American Rescue Plan Act will also provide $500 million in Community Facilities Program funds to help rural hospitals and local communities broaden access to COVID-19 vaccines and food assistance.

Nursing homes in trouble

On Tuesday, a survey of nursing home providers across the nation was released, showing only one quarter of the facilities are confident they will make it through next year.

The survey was conducted by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, which represent more than 14,000 nursing homes, assisted living communities, and other long-term care facilities across the country.

“Even though COVID cases in long-term care are at historic lows, providers are struggling to recover from the economic crisis the pandemic has induced. Too many facilities are operating under shoestring budgets simply because policymakers have failed to dedicate the proper resources, and this can have devastating consequences,” said Mark Parkinson, president and chief executive officer of AHCA/NCAL, in a statement. 

More than half of nursing homes and nearly half of assisted living communities say their organization is operating at a loss, the survey found. Also, nearly half of nursing homes and assisted living communities have had to make cuts in 2021 due to increased expenses or lost revenue.

The top three costs facilities have incurred due to COVID-19, regardless of whether they have had cases or not, are additional pay for staff, hiring additional staff, and paying for personal protective equipment.

In 2021, eighty-four percent of nursing homes said they are losing revenue due to fewer post-acute patients coming from the hospital.

Ninety-two percent of nursing homes and 62 percent of assisted living facilities said the Provider Relief Fund has been helpful during COVID.

More than half of nursing homes and more than one-third of assisted living communities say that Medicaid fee-for-service is problematic in covering the actual cost to provide care to residents, the survey said.

An analysis by AHCA/NCAL earlier this year estimated that the nursing home industry is expected to lose $94 billion over the course of the pandemic, and more than 1,800 facilities could close their doors. “Closures are hard on vulnerable residents who are forced to move, their family members who must often travel farther to see their loved ones, and dedicated caregivers who are out of a job,” said a release from the organization, announcing the survey results.

“Lawmakers and public officials across the country must prioritize the residents and caregivers in our nursing homes and assisted living communities,” Parkinson said in the release. “This starts by sending immediate resources through what remains of the Provider Relief Fund, and it continues by finally addressing the chronic underfunding of Medicaid, which only covers 70 to 80 percent of nursing home care. We have laid out key proposals in our Care For Our Seniors Act to transform America’s nursing homes, but without the help from Congress and state legislators, these necessary reforms will not be possible.”

State finances look up

An overview of state finances released this week by the comptroller’s office show the budget gap that months ago had been a gaping chasm has narrowed to a more manageable $3.4 billion over the next four years.

Just four months ago, the budget gap was estimated at $38.7 billion.

“One year ago, we faced the prospect of damaging mid-year spending reductions to critical programs, uncertainty about the severity and length of the economic disruption and daunting out-year budget gaps,” said Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli in a statement releasing his plan. “Now, cumulative budget gaps are estimated to have fallen to $3.4 billion over the next four years.

“This progress is a product of multiple factors, including a series of extraordinary federal financial assistance packages that provided historic and critically needed relief. In addition, certain sectors of our economy, notably financial services, also performed better than expected. Finally, state leaders enacted temporary new tax increases.”

Federal assistance totals  $15.2 billion while $17.3 billion comes from tax and other policy actions.

The state’s 2021-22 budget totals $208.9billion, the largest budget in State history and 12 percent greater than the prior year. 

DiNapoli warned, “While the Financial Plan outlook is markedly improved, significant underlying risks will require discipline and careful management to avoid a return to large budget gaps.”

He made these recommendations:

— Boost the rainy-day fund reserves: The Financial Plan’s anticipated deposits to reserves would bring the new total to $3.3 billion  —  significantly lower than the $6.4 billion that is statutorily authorized;

— Prudently and transparently use federal aid: Federal funding should be spread out over the life of the Financial Plan to limit the risk of a “funding cliff,” and use of these temporary resources to support recurring spending should be avoided;

— Closely monitor personal income tax collections and taxpayer behavior: The high reliance on high-income earners, combined with volatility of capital gains and the possibility of taxpayer migration creates a risk that should be carefully monitored; and

— Restore prudent debt policies: For the second year in a row, new debt issuances were excluded from the provisions of the Debt Reform Act of 2000. With the state’s financial condition stabilized, policymakers should restore prudent debt policies, including the establishment of updated and binding limits on state debt.

In addition, policymakers should replace some planned debt issuances with more “pay-as-you-go” funding to reduce long-term debt service obligations, including limiting debt uses to capital projects related to state assets. In the near term, if state tax receipts continue to surpass forecasts, a portion of the additional revenue could be used for this purpose.

Newest numbers

McCoy on Wednesday morning reported just one new case of  COVID-19, bringing Albany County’s tally to 24,418.

As of June 28, the infection rate for Albany County, as a seven-day rolling average, was 0.3 percent, according to the state’s dashboard. Statewide, the infection rate was 0.3 percent.

There are now 10 active cases in the county, down from 14 on Tuesday. The number of people under mandatory quarantine has decreased to 26 from 38. So far, 80,081 Albany County residents have completed quarantine. Of those, 24,408 had tested positive for the virus and recovered, an increase of four recoveries.

There were no new hospitalizations since Tuesday, and four county residents remain hospitalized. There are now two patients currently in intensive-care units, down one from Tuesday.

The COVID-19 death toll for Albany County remains at 386.