ALBANY — Four more county residents died Sunday to Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 36.
County Executive Dan McCoy said two women in their 80s, a woman in her 90s and a man in his 70s died from COVID-19. All had underlying health issues.
Of the 36 deaths, all but one person were older than 60 years old and all but one had underlying health issues.
“Yes, they had underlying health issues, but it’s still tough,” McCoy said during his daily briefing. “These are our residents.”
As of Monday, there were 937 positive cases in Albany County, up 22 from Sunday with 812 under mandatory quarantine, up nine, and 35 under precautionary quarantine, up three.
There were 43 people hospitalized for an overall rate of 4.6 percent. There are six in the ICU, down one from yesterday. Of those hospitalized, the majority, 23, are between 50 and 74 with 16 people older than 74.
There have been 478 people who were under quarantine and who have recovered from the virus.
The county has conducted 9,060 tests, far more than any other in the Capital District.
Dr. Elizabeth Whalen, head of the county Health Department, said the limited number of testing kits are reserved for people who are symptomatic, but the federal Center for Disease Control has added possible symptoms of COVID-19 to the three everyone has been working off of for two months — cough, fever and shortness of breath.
The new symptoms include such everyday ailments as chills, headache, muscle aches or pains or a new loss of smell or taste.
“We all get headaches and it’s a common thing for people who do not have a viral illness,” she said. “It’s important to know yourself. If you know yourself and you know headaches are the norm, and more people are getting tension headaches and stress headaches, but if it’s something new and if it is accompanied by a profound fatigue or if you don’t feel how you normally feel. We really want people, especially people working with vulnerable populations, to get tested.”
She said it is also important to not return to work until after the tests results come back, particularly if the person works with the vulnerable population.
The vast majority of people who get the virus are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
