ALBANY COUNTY — On Thursday, two more county residents succumbed to COVID-19 — a woman in her fifties and a woman in her sixties — according to a release from Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

This brings the county’s death toll from the virus to 524.

At the same time, McCoy reported 101 new COVID-19 cases as the number continues to decline from its Omicron peak. The county’s seven-day average of new daily positive cases is now down to 162.8.

Albany County’s most recent seven-day average of cases per 100,000 is now down to 47.2 and its positivity rate is at 8.5 percent, also as a seven-day average.

There were six new hospitalizations since Thursday, and there are now 64 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus — a net decrease of three. Of those hospital patients, 13 are currently in intensive-care units, up from 12 yesterday.

“Despite the progress we’re making in controlling the spread of this virus, COVID-19 is still a threat, especially for the unvaccinated and those with compromised immune systems and underlying health conditions,” said McCoy in the release.

As of Thursday, 80.7 percent of all Albany County residents had received at least the first dose of the vaccine, and 73.3 percent were fully vaccinated.

“While the statewide mask or proof-of-vaccination requirement for businesses has been rescinded,” McCoy went on, “the pandemic isn’t over, and I continue to encourage people to take the proper precautions to stay safe, especially if you are at higher risk of serious illness caused by COVID and have not gotten a shot.

“That means wearing a mask in crowded places, practicing social distance, and staying home and taking a COVID test if you are feeling sick. And as a reminder, it’s not too late to get vaccinated if you haven’t already.”

Long-term care centers remain short of staff

While hospitals, physicians’ offices, outpatient care centers, and other health-care facilities have nearly reached or surpassed pre-pandemic staffing levels, long-term care facilities are still experiencing substantial job losses, according to a new report from the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living.

The report, summarizing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, shows that long-term care facilities have lost more than 400,000 caregivers since the beginning of the pandemic, more than any other health-care sector.

Nursing homes experienced modest gains — of 2,100 jobs — in January 2022. It was the first month of job growth for the industry since July 2019. Overall, nursing homes have lost nearly 238,000 employees – or 15 percent of its total workforce – since the start of the pandemic.

The American Hospital Association and the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living recently sent a letter to Jeffrey Zients, COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator for the Biden administration, outlining “serious concerns that various nurse and other direct care staffing agencies have been exploiting the severe shortage of health care personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic by charging uniformly high prices in a manner that suggests widespread coordination and abuse of market position.”

The letter goes on, “Hospitals and LTC facilities have shared countless examples of how agencies are exploiting their desperate situation for personnel by inflating prices beyond reasonably competitive levels — two or three times pre-pandemic rates — and retaining up to 40% or more of those amounts for themselves.”

The letter writers ask for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate this conduct as a violation of antitrust or consumer protection laws.