ALBANY – Albany County officials once again raised the alarm on out-of-state travel Monday as Capital Region health officials continue to track recent coronavirus groups to travelers who did not follow the quarantine policy. 14 days from the state.
Those local warnings came the same day that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that his administration would issue an emergency order designed to compel air travelers to comply with the policy. Anyone flying from one of the 19 critical states on the New York travel advisory list must complete a form with the location they plan to return to in New York before leaving the airport, or else they will face a citation and a $ 2,000 fine, Cuomo said.
The Times Union has reported that many travelers are overlooking the forms, the completion of which has so far been voluntary.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing a small rebound in the Capital Region,” Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said in a briefing on Monday. “A report from the governor yesterday found that we had the highest percentage of positive results in the state at 2 percent … so we spent our weekend looking at the numbers and reviewing the data, because this is something we observe.”
With 10 new cases registered in the county on Monday, the county’s five-day average of new daily cases is now 10.4, compared to 8.8 on Sunday and 6.8 on Saturday. In the eight-county Capital Region, 54 new cases were recorded on Monday, the highest one-day total this month.
Several factors are fueling the cases, local officials say.
Of the 25 new cases in Albany County over the weekend, for example, three were directly related to travel and “several others” are believed to have been “locally acquired” from out-of-county contacts who had traveled to critical states said Cameron Sagan, a spokesman for McCoy’s office. Warren County also reported a new case on Monday in a person who traveled to a hotspot state.
At least eight of the recent Albany County cases involved three local nursing homes, including one in Rensselaer County. Eight were among residents between the ages of 20 and 29. And one was in a resident between the ages of 10 and 19.
McCoy and County Health Commissioner Elizabeth Whalen have expressed concern for months about the 20-29 age group, which represent the most confirmed cases in the county. But on Monday, officials said they are also starting to see a steady increase in cases among young people ages 10 to 19, and urged parents to remember that their children may be vectors of transmission to older and higher-risk people. .
“Please mothers and fathers: Make sure your children wear masks, especially when playing with other children and with groups of children,” McCoy said. “I know it is difficult, really. And I know that your children will not show any signs or symptoms. But it’s for her safety, and it’s for the safety of her parents, and it’s for the safety of the elderly neighbor. It is for anyone with underlying health problems. “
Out-of-state travel remains a top concern for local officials.
Last week, officials reported travelers were returning to the area that they had traveled to Atlanta for a July 4 party. Many of the partygoers were not wearing masks or social distancing, McCoy said Monday.
In addition, he said, the region is now beginning to see the return of “snow birds” that spend their winters in Florida and other sunny states, and return to the north of the state when the weather changes.
“The concern about traveling is very real,” Whalen said.
While Cuomo has ordered that all travelers returning to New York from hot spots be quarantined for 14 days, not everyone follows that regulation, he said.
“We have seen cases that came to our airport where people were fine and then tested positive within a couple of days,” Whalen said. “So if you come back, consider taking a test, but definitely stay home during your quarantine period. Because we know that the prevalence of COVID in many of the states of concern is in an order that we have not seen here, and we do not want to see it here. And we could do it if we are not aware and if we are not careful. “
McCoy noted that the county health department has some help in tracing contacts when it can trace the manifest of flights carrying infected travelers.
But air travel is just one of the ways people return to the area, he said.
“People can fly and take the train,” he said. “These are things we have to look at. … We ask you to be a partner in this, and the only way we are going to get through this is by doing the right thing. If you want to go and risk (go) to one of these 19 states for whatever reason and come back, just do the right thing and isolate for 14 days. ”
Montgomery County Peak
Montgomery County, whose cases don’t count toward Capital Region reopening metrics, but which many consider to be part of the region anyway, also sounded the alarm Monday about its biggest weekly increase in cases since the pandemic hit the area for the first time.
County Executive Matt Ossenfort reported Monday that the county experienced an increase of 21 cases during the week to 132 in total. The county’s public health department said the county is working with the state to help track and identify a number of possible travel-related exposures.
“It was brought to the attention of our department that, as of June 25, 2020, approximately 25 passengers who traveled from states identified on the travel ban list entered Montgomery County and attended a series of events throughout the county, “the department said.
“These events include, but are not limited to: funeral-related services, family reunions, graduation celebrations, vacations and work-related businesses,” he said.
Ossenfort called the spike “alarming” and said it should serve as a “wake-up call” for the community. She urged people to stay away from others and to wear masks in groups.
“Now is not the time to become complacent,” he said.
