County officials are asking people not to fall into COVID fatigue yet, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are starting to increase again in the Capital Region.
While the region is in the midst of a major campaign to vaccinate the public, officials warned against easing precautions too early, as the area has not yet achieved collective immunity and highly transmissible variants of the virus continue to be found in New York.
In Warren County, where COVID-19 numbers are relatively small compared to more populated areas, the percentage of people who test positive for the virus increased by 31% last week, officials said on Wednesday. Ginelle Jones, director of health services for the county, said that internal meetings, where people gathered for meals, have been linked to several recent cases.
“I am alarmed by the increase in cases that we have seen with people who have not taken precautions,” she said. “People are letting their guard down too soon.”
Meanwhile, Albany County executive Dan McCoy warned on Wednesday that the county was seeing an increase in hospitalizations. The county, like others in the region, has seen a steady decline in hospitalization rates, as cases of the virus began to drop from record levels in January.
“Unfortunately, the number of county residents in the hospital is starting to move in the wrong direction,” said McCoy. “In the past six days, we have gone from 21 current hospitalizations to 30. With the presence of the highly contagious UK and now the Brazilian variants in New York, we need to keep our guards up and not see this worrying trend continue. “
Until recently, the Capital Region had been experiencing a level of one month in new cases of coronavirus. That seems to have changed in the past week.
A Times Union analysis of data provided by eight local counties showed that the capital region had an average of 216 cases of the virus a day on Tuesday, compared to a recent low of 188 seen on March 15. The average daily proportion of people testing positive for the virus in the region has remained at or just below 2 percent since mid-February. On Tuesday, that share rose by 2 percent for the first time since February 18.
Hospitalizations, which tend to delay infections, have also started to rise. Hospitals in the Capital Region reported treating 110 patients with coronavirus on Tuesday, compared with 106 the day before and a recent drop from 90 on 17 March. However, it may be too early to declare this a trend. The seven-day moving average of daily hospitalizations in the region continues to hover close to 100, as it has in the past two weeks.
Local authorities have begged residents of the Capital Region to be vaccinated if they are eligible, as more contagious variants begin to circulate in the United States, including here in New York.
“We are seeing a third wave in other countries,” said Albany County Health Commissioner, Dr. Elizabeth Whalen, last week. “The term ‘third wave’ is not something we want to think about, but it is definitely a possibility and, as we see these highly transmissible strains emerging and spread across different parts of the country and in other countries, this is a major concern for us. “
On Wednesday, 32 percent of people in the eight counties region received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 16 percent were fully vaccinated, according to the state’s Vaccine Tracker.
“Please continue to wear a mask, distance yourself socially, cough and sneeze on your elbow and get tested,” McCoy said on Wednesday. “We still need to use these practices until we can vaccinate more people.”