ALBANY — Two more Albany County residents died Saturday into Sunday bringing the total to eight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to County Executive Dan McCoy, a man in his 70s and a woman in her 60s died Saturday night. All eight people in Albany County who died of COVID-19 were more than 60 years old and all had underlying health conditions.
As of Sunday there are more than 288 confirmed cases, McCoy said, up 18 from Saturday’s report. There are 384 people under mandatory quarantine and 72 under precautionary quarantine. On Saturday, there were 412 under mandatory quarantine and 82 under precautionary quarantine. There are 38 people hospitalized Sunday, up four from Saturday.
Statewide are more than 122,000 confirmed cases with more than 4,100 deaths, up from 113,000 and 3,500 on Saturday.
McCoy said he expects to see a sharper increase in the confirmed number of cases on Monday as community testing returns to the Capital District, when the state opens up a community testing site on the UAlbany campus.
A lack of testing and test kits has been a major concern in upstate counties and counties across the country. The limited number of kits has been reserved for patients displaying COVID-19 symptoms — coughing, fever and shortness of breath — and require hospitalization. Health care workers and other first responders have also been given tests more regularly than the general public.
The UAlbany test site will not take walks ins. Anyone who is demonstrating symptoms or who has come into contact with a person who has tested positive can call a hotline at 888-364-3065 to get a pin number, which can then be brought to the site.