ALBANY — From Friday to Saturday, two more county residents died, bringing the total to six.
Albany County Dan McCoy, during his daily briefing, said a man in his 70s and a woman in her 90s died. Both had underlying health issues.
Previously, two men and a woman in their 60s died from the virus as did a man in his 70s. All of those had underlying health conditions too.
“The hardest thing is, family members can’t see them in the hospital. They can’t say goodbye. They are all alone. If they are lucky a nurse or a doctor can facetime them with family members,” McCoy said.
As of Saturday, there were 270 confirmed cases in Albany County, 24 more than Friday. There are 464 under mandatory quarantine, up from 412, and 82 under precautionary quarantine, down from 123. There are 34 people hospitalized with 12 adults in the ICU.
People who come into contact with an infected person are placed under precautionary quarantine for two weeks.
There are 150 confirmed cases in Saratoga County as of Saturday and as of Friday there were 110 in Schenectady County and 56 in Rensselaer County. Statewide, there are more than 113,000 cases with more than 3,500 deaths. More than 10,000 people who were hospitalized were discharged statewide.
Testing remains an issue and there is a new state-run testing site slated for the UAlbany campus that will begin community testing on Monday. To get tested, a person with symptoms, or who has come into direct contact with a person who tested positive, must call the state hotline at 888-364-3065 to get a pin number. Walk-ins will not get tested.
Right now, the limited number of test kits are reserved for those who are showing symptoms and are sick enough to require hospitalization and for health care providers and first responders.
