Full Notification

With Thanksgiving a week away, there is a heightened effort in our community to address ever-increasing food insecurity.  The demand has never been greater but we are blessed by having a wealth of volunteers and support organizations that work every day  to respond.  You can help by donating food, money, or volunteering at the Guilderland Food Pantry, Community Caregivers, and other groups devoted to serving our community. 
 
This week’s snow and rain have not kept Highway crews from keeping pace with its posted schedule for vacuuming streets into early December.  While the long-range forecast looks okay, with no snow or ice forecasted, we know that weather can turn on a dime, and it could be raining in McKownville and heavily snowing in rural areas at the same time.  Please note that the trucks both haul away vacuumed leaves and plow snow, and that it can take most of a day to retool the trucks.  After the snow is cleared, Highway crews will resume vacuuming leave piles from streets as scheduled and could, if good weather holds, continue past the last scheduled date.  Highway trucks circulate year-round to pick up bags and tied brush.
 
COVID-19 Weekly Update
 
Albany County DOH’s COVID-19 Dashboard reported five COVID-19 related deaths over the past week that raised the County’s pandemic death total to 598.  The number of hospitalized persons decreased by 10 patients to now 24 patients.  The County’s seven-day average of positive cases over the past week decreased from 6.9% to 5.8%.
 
The CDC’s latest weekly community spread data continues to have Albany County at a “medium” rate of COVID-19 spread.  At the medium rate of community spread, the CDC recommends the wearing of facemasks on public transportation.  Only five counties, Chemung, Kings, Queens, Richmond, and Tioga, have “high” community rates.  Large swaths of the State near Albany, but not Schenectady County, have “low” community spread rates. 
 
The CDC reports that the percentage of the nation’s counties with a high community level increased from 2.42% to 2.61% and that the percentage at the medium level increased from 19.07% to 20.99%  The percentage of counties at the low community level decreased from 78.5% to 76.4%
 
State DOH’s data for measuring COVID-19’s community spread shows that Albany County’s seven-day average of positive cases per 100,000 residents decreased over the past week from 14.7 to 10.8 cases.  The State’s seven-day average decreased from 21.1 to 18.5 positive cases.  The hospitalization rate slightly decreased in the State from 14.56 to 14.15 patients per 100,000.  State DOH reported that there were 198 COVID-19 related deaths in the State last week, and that 75,473 residents have died since the start of the pandemic.
 
The CDC also reported that 10.1% of the nation’s eligible population (5 years and older) have received the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster.  It is a marked increase from 8.7% last week.  About 27% of the nation’s population 65 years and older have received the updated booster.  You can check on the availability of updated boosters by entering your zip code at vaccines.gov, texting your zip code to 438829, or calling 1-800-232-0233.
 
State DOH again urged residents to get their annual flu vaccine with confirmed flu cases started much earlies and in greater numbers than last year.  You can find a flu shot provider here. 
 
Please click here to read the full version of the weekly newsletter.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. 
 
Peter G. Barber
Town Supervisor