ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Officials say there have been 24,088 confirmed cases of COVID among Albany County residents since the outbreak began, with 23 new positive cases since Wednesday. There were also 41 recoveries since Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says that 56.9% of Albany County’s population have received at least a first dose, and 48.3% are considered fully vaccinated. Statewide, the first dose vaccination rate is 48.8%, and the full vaccination rate is 40%.
“Albany County will begin vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds today, now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the CDC and New York State. We encourage parents and guardians to bring their kids down to our vaccination clinic at the Albany Capital Center from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Not only is this a critical step towards herd immunity, the first 500 kids will get a voucher for a free ice cream cone from Stewart’s Shops,” McCoy said.
There are 120 current active cases, and the five-day average for new daily positives is 17.4. The county’s most recent seven-day average of percent positive rates is 1%, compared to the Capital Region’s 1.4%.
Among the new cases, one lives or works in a health care or congregate setting, five had close contact with other positives, and 17 had no clear sources of infection. Mandatory quarantines increased to 364. Of the 78,428 who’ve gone through quarantine so far, 23,968 tested positive and recovered.
With one new hospitalization overnight, 17 county residents are currently hospitalized from the virus. Of those, five are in the ICU. With no new COVID deaths to report, the county death toll remains 378.
During the briefing, McCoy was joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen and Juliette Price from Alliance for Better Health.
“I also want to take a moment to thank Juliette Price and Alliance for Better Health, who were key partners in our successful pre-registration system and vaccination efforts. This tool helped get 45,000 Albany County residents pre-registered for the vaccine, which ultimately led to 42,000 of them getting successfully vaccinated, while taking some of the stress out of the process. We did this with an eye towards equity, and part of that was focusing on underserved communities and organizing nearly 50 smaller, pop-up vaccine clinics across the county and the region,” Mccoy said.
