ALBANY — Businesses looking to reopen in Phase I and subsequent phases must fill out two forms, one to keep on hand at the physical place of business and one online kept digitally by the state.
The two forms outline different safety measures implemented to keep the spread of COVID-19 in check and the protect employees and workers.
Who enforces the businesses’ compliance is still an open question, said County Executive Dan McCoy, who said answers could be had as early as Friday. It will almost certainly include local law enforcement like the Sheriff’s Department and municipal police agencies.
Also, he said, businesses should keep a log of who has come into a place of business to help with contact tracing, or tracking the history of a person who tested positive for COVID-19. It then entails testing the people who the positive person has come into contact with and isolating where necessary.
To get a copy of the document that must be kept at the business click here.
To access the New York State Reopening Tool click here.
“We want to open, but we want it done safely and effectively,” McCoy said. “This is going to take all of us working together because if things change we will take a step back.”
Meanwhile, a 70-year-old female resident of Shaker Place with underlying health issues died from Wednesday to Thursday. She is the 15th resident of the county’s nursing home to die from the virus.
All but two of the county’s 73 fatalities were older than 60 and all but one had underlying health issues.
As of Thursday, there were 1,578 positive cases in Albany County with 1,043 who have recovered. There are 25 hospitalized for a rate of 1.6 percent.
Education has been a question mark, and Thursday Gov. Andrew Cuomo said summer school will not be in session but instead districts across the state will continue with distance learning.
There has not been a decision on whether students will return to classrooms in the fall. He said the state will have guidelines established in early June and a month later the individual districts will submit plans on how they will follow those guidelines for review. Those plans, and the spread of the virus, will determine what happens in September.
Also, the statewide, coordinated effort of contact tracing began in earnest on Thursday. Cuomo said if anyone gets a phone call from “NYS Contact Tracing” they should answer it.
