HUDSON—“The Capital Region remains on track for Phase 2 reopening on Wednesday, June 3,” Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell said in the Friday, May 29 county-issued Covid-19 update press release.
The Capital Region is composed of Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, Columbia, Saratoga, Schenectady, Washington and Warren counties.
According to New York State’s New York Forward website (https://forward.ny.gov), businesses allowed to begin the process of reopening are offices; real estate; essential and Phase 2 in-store retail; vehicle sales, leases and rentals; retail rental, repair and cleaning; commercial building management; and hair salons and barbershops.
Partial guidance for businesses reopening under Phase 2 is available on the New York Forward site. Guidelines and templates relating to business reopening plans can also be found there.
The New York Forward website notes that the following businesses remain closed:
*Malls; specifically, any indoor common portions of retail shopping malls with 100,000 or more square feet of retail space available for lease; however, any stores located within shopping malls, which have their own external entrances open to the public, separate from the general mall entrance (e.g. strip malls), may open;
*Dine-in and on premise restaurant or bar service, excluding take-out or delivery for off-premise consumption;
*Large gathering/event venues, including but not limited to establishments that host concerts, conferences, or other in-person performances or presentations in front of an in-person audience;
*Gyms, fitness centers, and exercise classes, except for remote or streaming services;
*Video lottery and casino gaming facilities;
*Movie theaters, except drive-ins; and
*Places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, including but not limited to, locations with amusement rides, carnivals, amusement parks, water parks, aquariums, zoos, arcades, fairs, children’s play centers, funplexes, theme parks, bowling alleys, family and children’s attractions.
Virus numbers broken down
The toll of lives lost to the coronavirus in Columbia County stands at 32, according to county Department of Health (DOH) numbers listed as of May 29 at 3 p.m.
Residents of The Grand at Barnwell, 3230 Church Street, Valatie account for 15 of those dead; 12 residents of Pine Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 201 Main Street, Philmont are among the dead as well as 5 community residents, according to information from the DOH.
Columbia County has received confirmed positive test results for 385 community members.
There are 129 active cases of the virus in Columbia County with 53 additional residents on mandatory quarantine and 5 residents on precautionary quarantine; 224 of the 385 confirmed positive cases have recovered from Covid-19; 17 of the positive cases are hospitalized, 1 of those hospitalized is in the ICU.
The DOH has categorized its test results by antibody and PCR tests. A total of 4,233 PCR test results and 1,187 antibody results, of which 126 were positive have been received by the department.
As of May 29, the total number of confirmed, positive cases of Covid-19 in Columbia County breaks down this way: Ancram 7; Canaan 10; Chatham 17; Claverack 9; Clermont 4; Copake 17; Germantown 8; Ghent 18; Greenport 13; Hillsdale 12; Hudson 33; Kinderhook 41; Livingston 8; New Lebanon 4; Stockport 2; Stuyvesant 9; Livingston Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 2781 Route 9, Livingston 2; Pine Haven 37 and The Grand at Barnwell 134.
Learn more at https://www.columbiacountynyhealth.com/home/coronavirus-covid-19/
Test clinics
Coronavirus testing clinics are set at the John L. Edwards Elementary School, 360 State Street, Hudson, Tuesday, June 2, both from 10 a.m. to noon, and at the Columbia County Fairgrounds, 142 Hudson Avenue (Route 66), Chatham, Sunday, June 7, 10 to 1 p.m.
Sign-up instructions and further instructions regarding the clinics can be found on the Health Department’s webpage on the Columbia County website https://www.columbiacountynyhealth.com/ or by calling 518-828-3358.