Full Notification

Based on Albany County DOH’s COVID-19 dashboard, there were 53 new positive cases overnight, and the County’s COVID-19 cumulative pandemic total has reached 62,533 positive cases.  The County’s seven-day average of new daily positive cases increased from 29.5 to 34.4 cases.  County DOH noted that the number of County residents in the hospital due to COVID-19 symptoms increased by one to 11 patients.  The County reported no deaths overnight, and the County’s pandemic death toll remained at 536. 
 
State DOH reported that the County’s rate for one vaccine dose as of yesterday was 81.3% of the County’s total population and 89.7% of the adult population, and the County’s rate for full-vaccination was 74.0% of the total population, and for boosters was 64.1% of the eligible population.  The State’s rate for one dose was 89.3% for the total population and 95.0% of adults, and the State’s rate for full-vaccination was 75.9% for the total population, and for boosters was 56.1% of the eligible population.  No changes today in any of these percentages. 
 
The State’s COVID-19 website reported that yesterday’s results for 133,109 tests Statewide were 2,072 or 1.6% positive, with the seven-day average increasing to 1.7%.  The Capital Region had 4,019 tests of which 128 or 3.2% were positive, with the seven-day average increasing to 2.3%.  The County had 1,235 tests of which 33 or 2.7% were positive, with the seven-day average decreasing to 2.1%.

Governor Hochul announced today that the State’s positive rate for tests was 1.56%.    Other COVID-19 data included hospitalizations (1,034, -36), new admissions (141), ICU patients (158, -14), intubations (92, -3), and deaths (18).

In another sign of return to a new normal, the Federal government announced that free public tours of the White House would resume on Friday, April 15.  The tours will initially be available on Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to 12:30pm, excluding Federal holidays or unless otherwise noted.  More information about making a reservation for a visit is available here.
 
Here is the link to the Guilderland Historical Society’s online presentation tomorrow evening at 7:30pm on how to preserve and organize photos, letters, diaries, and other important documents.  The featured speaker is Marietta Carr, librarian and archivist at the Schenectady County Historical Society, who will explain techniques for protecting valuable paper documents. 
 
With no fanfare, Governor Hochul late this afternoon signed Executive Order No. 11.4 which extended the State of Emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic until April 15.  The Order notes that there are still over 100 new daily hospital admissions, and that the State must ensure hospital capacity meets regional needs and support local governments to administer vaccinations and tests to prevent the virus from continuing to spread.  My very cynical fleeting thought is that the State legislators like the option to meet remotely during the very busy budget season and not travel to Albany for in-person meetings in the late winter.

But despite the Town’s continuing option to hold virtual meetings, we have decided that starting today, all public bodies, including the meeting of Zoning Board of Appeals tonight, will resume in-person meetings with no capacity restriction and facemasks strongly encouraged.  This step is based on CDC’s assessment that Albany County continues with a “low” rate of infection, and there have been no transports of COVID positive residents by Town ambulances for weeks. 
 
Quite frankly, I was surprised by the extended State of Emergency and had already typed that I was ending these daily updates today.  But at the start of this pandemic over two years ago, I had promised you that I would continue with these daily COVID-19 updates until the State of Emergency is declared over.  So, it looks like my streak will continue and I will be writing at least another 30 consecutive daily updates. 

Thank you for staying safe and calm.

Peter G. Barber
Town Supervisor