“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;

These local students were named to the fall 2021 dean’s list at The College of Saint Rose, comprised of students with a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher:
 

— Emma Carter of Delmar, majoring in english;

— Elizabeth French of Guilderland, is majoring in history;

These local students were named to the dean’s list at Hudson Valley Community College for the fall 2019 semester with a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher:

— Aigerim Kratz of Delmar, majoring in accounting;

— Gwendolyn Elliott of Schenectady, majoring in accounting;

These local students were named to the president’s list at Hudson Valley Community College for the fall 2019 semester with a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher:

— Catherine Ingleston of Voorheesville, majoring in accounting;

— Latosha Miller of Delmar, majoring in accounting;

“Another of the finest generation has left us. George Taylor Myers, 92, of New Salem (Thacher Park), New York left this earthly realm on 12 December 2021,” wrote his family in a tribute.

Albany County distributed 1,000 of its 10,000 free COVID tests through Stewrt’s Shops to try to reach rural residents while Guilderland used an online sign-up to distribute its allotment of tests.

“Those children who are hospitalized do not have to be scared, frightened, lying in a hospital bed; they do not have to be there,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, urging vaccination.

Starting on Monday, visitors to the capitol must be fully vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID test within 48 hours, the Office of General Services announced on Saturday. The office also announced that the Legislative Office Building will be closed until further notice “as a necessary precaution in response to the evolving COVID-19 situation.”

New York State has released its first annual greenhouse gas emissions report, and it paints a dire image. While emissions are down somewhat from 1990, the report shows the state has a long way to go to achieve the goals it laid out in its Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act by the self-set deadline of 2050.