Two more Albany county residents — a man in his sixties and a woman in her eighties — died of COVID-19 on Wednesday, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported on Thursday morning. This brings Albany County’s death toll from the virus to 495.

Dr. Ward Stone, Troy

On Tuesday morning, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy reported that Albany County had a seven-day average positivity rate of 18.3 percent. On May 12, 2020, the World Health Organization advised governments that, before reopening, rates of positivity in testing  — that is, out of all tests conducted, how many came back positive for COVID-19 — should remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

Despite the funding shortfall, New York State was legally compelled to fully reopen its application portal last week following a court injunction.

At the close of this week’s Enterprise podcast, through tears, Jason Houck gave a shout-out to his two daughters.

“I love you both and hope to see you again someday,” he said.

Houck of East Berne chairs the New York Affiliate of the National Parents Organization.

“While New York as a whole is showing signs of statewide COVID infections possibly hitting their peak, that is clearly not the case for Albany County as we report nearly 1,600 new positive cases in a single day, the highest increase we’ve ever experienced since the pandemic started nearly two years ago,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

The New York Coalition for Open Government, a not-for-profit advocate for government transparency, says it filed two Freedom of Information Law requests with the Albany County Board of Elections for meeting minutes last summer, but the board never acknowledged either.

“We will no longer be doing contact tracing because the numbers of new daily positive cases is too high to keep up with in a time sensitive way,” Albany County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen wrote in an email Wednesday morning, answering Enterprise questions. “We ask that those who test positive notify those who have been around them so they may take appropriate action,” Whalen said.

These local students were named to the dean’s list or received a similar honor from their college or university:

— Madison Demarest of Rotterdam, in the summer 2021 semester dean’s list at Palmer College of Chiropractic's Florida in Port Orange with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher;