ALBANY COUNTY — On Monday, New York reached the 90-percent mark of adults having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine.

On Tuesday, the county announced a pilot program, starting immediately in participating schools, that students exposed to the virus who show no symptoms can test out of a 10-day quarantine, shortening it to seven days.

This followed Friday’s announcement that the Food and Drug Administration had authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna booster shots for fully vaccinated adults after which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave its approval.

The Guilderland schools held a clinic with Albany County’s health department on Monday to administer boosters as well as first vaccinations — including to the youngest age group authorized for shots: 5- to 11-year-olds.

But the good news came with a caveat.

As Governor Kathy Hochul joined in packing 3,200 turkeys on Monday at the Javits Center to be distributed across the state, she spoke of New York being third in the nation for vaccination but warned that, as Thanksgiving and holiday gatherings loom, she was concerned “by the number of people who are resisting.”

Vaccinated people should feel free to gather, Hochul said, and everyone should get a booster shot.

“Let me be very clear,” she said. “It is far worse to contract COVID over the holidays than it is to have to deal with the effects of your booster shot.”

People who received an original series of two Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots have to wait six months to be eligible for a booster shot. People who got the one-shot Johnston & Johnston are eligible for a second shot, a booster, after two months.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has allowed a mix-or-match approach so that the booster shot can be the same as or different from the original shots.

Boosters are recommended because the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes over time.

Rural areas in New York State, including in Albany County, continue to have higher rates of infection. And another surge nationwide is possible as Thanksgiving travel reaches pre-pandemic levels and COVID-19 cases across the United States have risen about 30 percent in November.

Europe is in the midst of its worst surge since the start of the pandemic and strict restrictions by some governments have caused violent protests.

Pilot program

Last week, The Enterprise ran a front-page story on the frustration of Guilderland School Board members and administrators with the county health department’s policy that quarantined asymptomatic students who may have been exposed to someone infected with COVID-19.

Board members said some students had missed more days of school than they had attended; that it was an equity issue since not all parents can work from home; that vulnerable grandparents were being pressed into caring for potentially ill children; and that teachers were overburdened helping so many absent students keep up with their schoolwork.

 “It is not solely an Albany County DOH policy to quarantine exposures,” Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen told The Enterprise last week. “It is policy recommended by both the NYSDOH and the CDC and is currently an essential strategy to reduce the spread of COVID in schools.”

On Tuesday, in his daily release on COVID-19, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy announced a pilot program to change school quarantine policy, shortening the quarantine period from 10 to seven days for students who test negative for the virus.

Nearby Saratoga County had earlier launched a test-to-stay pilot project where students who have been exposed are allowed to come to school as long as they test negative each day and show no symptoms of the virus.

“In following guidance from the CDC, my office and our County Department of Health have established a new pilot quarantine policy in a partnership with our schools,” McCoy said in the release. “Starting immediately and subject to the school’s participation, students found to be close contacts to COVID infections but are not showing any signs or symptoms of a potential infection can test out of quarantine after seven days, instead of the current ten-day requirement.

“Quarantine is an important tool in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, but unnecessarily drawn-out quarantines are a burden to students, parents and guardians, schools, businesses and entire communities. Shortening the timeline for quarantine of close contacts through testing will strike an important balance between the safety of our students, and keeping them in the classroom where they belong,” McCoy said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers this school guidance on the topic: “Close contacts who are not fully vaccinated should be referred for COVID-19 testing. Regardless of test result, they should quarantine at home for 14 days after exposure. Options to shorten quarantine provide acceptable alternatives of a 10-day quarantine or a 7-day quarantine combined with testing and a negative test result.”

The CDC makes an exception in the close contact definition for the exclusion of students in the K-12 indoor classroom who are within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student with masking. “The close contact definition excludes students who were between 3 to 6 feet of an infected student (laboratory-confirmed or a clinical diagnosis) if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time,” it says.

The containment protocols for pre-kindergarten to 12th grade posted by the state’s Department of Health say that exposed individuals should complete quarantine and show no symptoms before returning to in-person learning.

Exceptions are made for asymptomatic individuals who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infection during the previous three months.

The county release went on to explain that, for the quarantine to end, a COVID test must be conducted no sooner than the fifth day of quarantine and within 48 hours of the planned end of quarantine. Quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than after the seventh day. Day five of quarantine is defined as the fifth day after an individual’s last documented close contact exposure to an individual infectious with COVID-19.

Additionally, for the quarantine to end after seven days, the individual cannot have developed any COVID-19 symptoms since their last exposure, including but not limited to fever of chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion of runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.

“It’s important to note that this new policy does not apply to students who have already tested positive for COVID-19,” the county release said. “A negative COVID-19 viral test result from a diagnostic specimen is required. Viral tests include both antigen tests and nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), which include but are not limited to PCR tests.

“These tests can be administered in pharmacies, healthcare provider offices, and schools. In schools that have contracted with the Albany County DOH for Quadrant testing, this test can be utilized. Abbott BinaxNOW antigen tests are also acceptable when administered by the school. At-home tests are not eligible for this protocol.”

More deaths

Albany County suffered three COVID deaths this week: a man in his seventies died on Thursday, a man in his sixties died on Friday, and a woman in her nineties died on Saturday.

Albany County’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 439.

On Nov. 19, McCoy said in his daily COVID update, as he announced 191 new cases of COVID-19, the highest single-day increase since Jan. 28, “It should be a wakeup call as we head into the holiday season when many families and friends are coming together to celebrate. This virus is spreading at an alarming rate and we know that more infections often lead to more hospitalizations and deaths further down the road.

“What’s more troubling is that we were in a far better position at this time last year. Over the last month, we’ve reported 19 COVID-related deaths and 136 new hospitalizations. Last year during the same time period, there were 11 deaths and 99 hospitalizations.

“We need everyone to do their part by getting vaccinated, getting the booster shot, wearing masks indoors, staying home if you’re feeling sick, and if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends next week, consider getting tested beforehand,” McCoy said.

Sales-tax revenues up

Local sales-tax collections in New York grew by 12.9 percent in October compared to a year ago, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced this week.

Collections for all localities totaled more than $1.5 billion, up $175 million from October 2020. This exceeds pre-pandemic levels by 7 percent.

This growth continues the trend that began in April of monthly sales tax collections exceeding last year’s results.

In Albany County, from January through October 2021, sales-tax revenues are up 20 percent, from $215 million for that same 10-month time span in 2020 — to $258 million in 2021, the comptroller’s report says.

Albany County’s fluctuation follows the statewide trends: Sales-tax revenues were down 7.5 percent in January of this year and down 8.1 percent in February compared to those months in 2020.

Then there was a huge rebound in the spring: an increase of 12.5 percent in March for Albany County, crescendoing to 48.5 percent in April, 48.8 percent in May, and 49.8 percent in June.

The percentage increase over the summer was about half that: 13.7 percent in July over July 2020 and 20.6 percent in August.

This September, the Albany County increase in sales-tax revenues was 16.0 percent over the previous year; and, in October, the latest numbers show a 13.3-percent increase over October 2020, from $21 million to $24 million..

New York City’s collections totaled $672 million, an increase of 8.3 percent — or more than $51 million — over October of 2020.

Nearly every county saw year-over-year collections for October grow by double digits, with Monroe County having the largest growth at 37 percent.

“Sales tax collections came in strong in October, boosting local revenues,” DiNapoli said in a statement, releasing the figures. “The consistent growth over the last few months is a positive sign of our economic recovery and life moving forward as we deal with the ongoing reality of COVID-19.”

Help for the struggling

“As we focus on our post-pandemic economic recovery, we need to do everything in our power to help New Yorkers stay in their homes,” said Hochul in a statement on Thursday as she announced New York is the first state to receive U.S. Treasury approval for the Homeowner Assistance Fund program.

The fund, she said, will ultimately distribute nearly $539 million to assist homeowners who are at the greatest risk of foreclosure or displacement.

“In advance of this approval, we have been preparing an implementation plan to swiftly assist low- and moderate-income, socially disadvantaged homeowners, and we will soon unveil a statewide outreach campaign to provide critical information to at-risk homeowners so they are ready to apply as soon as the application window opens,” said Hochul.

She separately announced a new digital media campaign designed to raise awareness of the various state programs available to help struggling New Yorkers pay heating and utility expenses to avoid potential service interruptions during the cold weather months ahead.

With utility prices expected to spike this season, the campaign will also provide tips and best practices to help contend with higher-than-average home heating costs.

Credential exchange

On Wednesday, Hochul announced digital COVID-19 vaccination credentials issued from Canadian provinces and territories that adhere to SMART Health Cards specifications will be accepted right away through the state’s Excelsior Pass Scanner application.

Following the reopening of the U.S.- Canadian border, this means fully vaccinated Canadians can use their compatible vaccination credentials for business entry in New York.

As of Nov. 9, these provinces and territories in Canada issue vaccine certificates that meet the state’s criteria: Québec, Manitoba, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Additional Canadian provinces and territories are expected to follow and will be announced soon, the governor’s office said.

On Oct. 5, New York State’s Excelsior Pass Scanner application was updated to enable the validation of other passes that meet the state’s standards of issuance. 

To date, over 163,000 downloads of the Excelsior Pass Scanner application have been made, representing integration across thousands of New York businesses. In addition to the Canadian provinces and territories, this also includes passes issued by other U.S. States such as California, Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington State.

New Yorkers who received their booster or additional COVID-19 vaccine dose can now retrieve their Excelsior Vaccination Pass Plus — which, as a secure copy of a person’s vaccination record, does not expire. New Yorkers who previously received their Excelsior Vaccination Pass Plus can visit epass.ny.gov at any time to retrieve their new Pass Plus.

Newest numbers

Albany County, like the rest of New York State and most of the nation, continues to have a high rate of community transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning that masks should be worn indoors in public regardless of vaccination status.

As of Tuesday morning, according to the state’s vaccine tracker, 74.9 percent of Albany County’s 307,117 residents had received at least one dose of vaccine as had 84.6 percent of residents 18 and older.

According to McCoy’s Tuesday morning release, 67.4 percent of county residents have been fully vaccinated.

McCoy reported 89 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the county’s five-day average of new daily positive cases down to 106.8.

Albany County’s most recent seven-day average of percent positive rate is now down to 5.0 percent and the Capital Region’s average rate remained at 6.8 percent.

There are now 604 active cases in the county, down from 629 on Monday. The number of county residents under mandatory quarantine decreased to 1,069 from 1,192.

There were four new hospitalizations since Tuesday, and there are still a total of 38 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus with four of those patients in intensive-care units.