State and county leaders: Get vaccinated

Enterprise file photo — Michael Koff
Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, shown here at a COVID-19 press conference in March, said in a statement on Oct. 9, "Three more Albany County residents have died this week and it’s critical that we get everyone vaccinated ...."

ALBANY COUNTY — Saturday brought good news from the state — 85 percent of adult New Yorkers have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine — and bad news from Albany County: For the third time in three days, a virus-related death was announced.

The county resident who died on Friday was in their forties; the county’s COVID-19 death toll now stands at 410.

“Since the beginning of September, I have reported multiple younger Albany County residents have died from COVID-19,” said Albany County executive Daniel McCoy in his daily COVID-19 release, noting recent deaths of residents in their thirties, forties, and fifties.

“To those people who keep saying COVID is only taking our older citizens, you’re wrong,” McCoy said, urging vaccination, social distancing, hand-washing, and indoor mask-wearing.

In the governor’s daily COVID release, Kathy Hochul said, “Yesterday, we hit a major milestone. Eighty-five percent of adult New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, putting us one step closer to ending this pandemic and getting our lives back to normal.” She, too, urged hand-washing, mask-wearing, and vaccination.

Hochul had noted earlier that the goal keeps changing from the initial 70 percent for herd immunity, now to 90 percent.

“But we were always told last year, when we hit 70 percent, we’re going to be in great shape. And now they keep moving the goal line,” Hochul said at a press conference on Oct. 5. “And now we’re being told about 90 percent is what we have to achieve. So we’re within striking distance, but we have to keep pushing.”

In Albany County, 83 percent of adult residents have received at least one shot while 72 percent of all residents have; 66 percent of county residents have been fully vaccinated.

McCoy on Saturday morning also announced 83 new cases of COVID-19 with 515 active cases in the county, down from 544 on Friday. The number of county residents under mandatory quarantine decreased to 857 from 865.

There were six new hospitalizations since yesterday, and there are now 37 county residents hospitalized with the coronavirus. Nine of those hospital patients remain in intensive-care units, a decrease of two from Friday.

According to records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported by the state, the ZIP codes  in Albany County with the highest rate of vaccination are 12211 in Albany at 91.7 percent, 1259 in Slingerlands at 89.4 percent, and 12054 in Delmar at 86.8 percent.

The lowest rates in the county are 12222 in Albany at 8.9 percent, 12946 in Coeymans Hollow at 33.9 percent, and 12120 in Medusa in Rensselaerville at 46.6 percent.

In Berne, at 12023, the rate is 53.2 percent; in Preston Hollow, at 12469, the rate is 54.0 percent; in Clarksville, at 12041, the rate is 54.8 percent; in East Berne, at 12059, the rate is 60.0 percent; in Westerlo, at 12193, the rate is 60.4 percent.

In Feura Bush, at 12067, the rate is 61.6 percent; in Rensselaerville, at 12147, the rate is 68.4 percent; in Altamont, at 12009, the rate is 71.7 percent; in Guilderland, at 12084, the rate is 73.7 percent; and in Voorheesville, at 12186, the rate is 83.3 percent.

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