ALBANY — Four more county residents, two men and a woman in their 80s and a woman in her 90s, died from Tuesday to Wednesday, from COVID-19 bringing the total to 29.
Meanwhile, there are 713 positive cases in Albany County, up 35 from Tuesday. There are 811 under mandatory quarantine, up 57 from Tuesday and 41 under precautionary quarantine, which did not change.
There are 35 county residents hospitalized for a rate of 4.6 percent, up from 4.4 on Tuesday. There are seven residents in the ICU.
As testing continues at UAlbany and five other sites across the Albany County there are more positive cases. There have been more than 7,000 tests done in Albany County.
There are 264 cases in Saratoga County, 280 in Schenectady County and 186 in Rensselaer County, according to the state Department of Health. Saratoga County has tested 3,451 people, Schenectady County has tested 2,299 and Rensselaer County has tested 2,461.
“Once we do more testing we get more positive results,” said Dr. Elizabeth Whalen, head of the county Health Department. “We need to continue our increased vigilance and our increased testing.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state would re-open on a regional basis but did not give any timeline to when that will begin. On Wednesday he said the shutdown is not going to end “anytime soon.”
Whalen said as more testing is done, in particular antibody testing to determine who is asymptomatic, there will be a better idea of when and how things can open back up.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations continue to drop and was below 15,000 on Wednesday, down from a high of nearly 19,000 earlier this month. The three-day average of hospitalizations continue to drop as do the number of people on a ventilator.
The number of fatalities on Wednesday was 474 statewide, a sharp decrease from a daily high of nearly 800 earlier this month.
Also on Wednesday, Cuomo said New York would team up with New Jersey and Connecticut to conduct testing on people who may have had the virus and recovered and then use an “army” to trace their paths to see who they came into contact with and isolate them if necessary.
At the same time antibody testing, people will still get tested for the virus to determine the an infection rate.
At Shaker Place, the county’s nursing home, there are 22 residents who tested positive, which is unchanged, and 12 staffers. One employee has recovered and returned to work.
Earlier this week, two residents of Shaker Place, both in their 80s, died from COVID-19.
