The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. The total number of cases reported yesterday was 1,704; the total number reported today is 1,747. From that we can surmise that there have been 43 new cases COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases has increased by 43, which suggests that no one has recovered from the virus since yesterday. There are 47 fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, and the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since yesterday.

The Times Union reported this dire news today: “Capital Region has one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks statewide.” The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a daily positivity rate for the Capital Region of 10.0 percent and a seven-day average of 10.1 percent. The counties in the region with the highest positivity rates in the past 24 hours are Rensselaer (13.4 percent), Greene (11.8 percent), Albany (10.6 percent), and Saratoga (10.0 percent). Columbia County, with a daily positivity rate of 8.4 percent is the second lowest in the Capital Region after Warren County, with 7.7 percent.