Albany County coronavirus update, February 25
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Officials say there have been 20,275 cases of the coronavirus among Albany County residents since the outbreak began, with 116 new positive cases since Wednesday. Also since Wednesday, 81 new recoveries were reported.
With one new COVID death to report—a man in his 70s—the county death toll is 348. There are 582 current active cases, and the five-day average for new daily positives is 73.8.
Among new positives, four had traveled out of state, four live or work in health care or congregate settings, 33 had no clear source of infection, and 75 had close contact with other positives. Currently, 1,407 are under mandatory quarantine. Of the 63,380 people to have completed quarantine so far, 19,693 tested positive and recovered.
“It may be tempting to let your guard down as things continue to improve, but vaccines are still being distributed, and there are still too many people waiting for appointments to get their shot. We can’t get lazy now. We need to keep doing the things that control the spread of the virus until we can reach herd immunity—wear a mask out in public, socially distance and cough and sneeze into your elbow,” said County Executive Dan McCoy in a statement.
McCoy reported that seven new hospitalizations overnight, for a total of 53 county residents now hospitalized from the virus, a lower total than Wednesday's. “With a net decrease of three hospitalizations overnight, the number of COVID patients continues to trend downward to levels we haven’t seen since the end of November. On top of that, our 7-day average for percent positive rates is now at 1.8%, near the lowest since the beginning of November,” McCoy said. Of that 53, eight patients are in the ICU.