Teresian House reported 42 more COVID-19 cases – says most of those residents recovered – Times Union

ALBANY — The day the Capital Region began to reopen its economy Wednesday, Albany County reported an uptick of 71 positive cases – with more than half of those numbers being reported from a private nursing home where tests were administered at the end of April.

The new data released by the county brought the total number of confirmed cases to 1,552 — but just 385 of those are active cases.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said the Teresian House residents made up 42 of the 71 cases.

“The Teresian House had a private contracting company come in and test all the residents and workers there … about two weeks ago,” McCoy said Wednesday at his daily briefing. “We were bracing for that.”

A spokesman for Teresian House, Paul Larrabee of Corning Place Communications, said the private tests the nursing home conducted on about 180 residents were done three weeks ago on April 29, and that they only have two current active cases at the facility — both residents who are being treated for pneumonia and had tested positive for COVID-19 more than two weeks ago.

Larrabee disputed any characterization that there has been a recent surge in new cases at Teresian House, saying the nursing home has been diligent in reporting its new cases daily to the state Department of Health. It does not report numbers directly to Albany County.

“I cannot speak to Mr. McCoy’s characterization – but there are no new cases of COVID-19 at the Teresian House,” Larrabee said in an email. “In fact, virtually all individuals, with the exception of two, are resolving, and have served the 14-day quarantine under isolation protocols. Each room at Teresian House is an individual room – facilitating isolation and containment.”

Albany County spokeswoman Mary Rozak said any discrepancies in figures could be the result of a delay in cases being reported to the county health department by the state.

In an earlier round of testing on April 18, which was done by the Albany County health department, 60 residents were tested at Teresian House. Those tests were conducted on residents who may have had contact with a staff member who had tested positive, the nursing home spokesman said.

Teresian House has had 71 residents test positive for COVID-19, Larrabee said. He said he couldn’t comment on the number of staff who have tested positive because it is a moving number that changes depending on who has quit or who has been newly hired into the facility.

Shaker Place, the county-run nursing home, currently has 19 residents and seven employees who have tested positive. A total of 14 residents have died. Thirty-three residents have recovered from the virus.

Albany County lost two more residents to COVID-19 overnight, a woman in her 80s and a woman who was over 100. The county’s death toll from the virus reached 72. McCoy estimated about 65% of the county’s COVID-19 deaths have come from nursing homes.

County officials do not expect the spike from positive test results at Teresian House to have an impact on hospitalization rates and other metrics the region must meet to remain open and move on to the second phase of reopening in two weeks.

At least 14 residents of Teresian House who contracted COVID-19 have died.

Earlier: State investigating Teresian House after COVID-19 infections, deaths

Despite Wednesday’s data from Teresian House, the county’s numbers were overall optimistic. There were 37 new recoveries, with a total of 1,026 and a recovery rate of 66.1% — up from Tuesday’s 53.5% recovery rate. There were three fewer people hospitalized and two fewer people in the intensive care unit, bringing the hospitalization rate down to 1.73%.

“It’s still a great day here because we get phase one,” McCoy said. “(COVID-19) is out there still but we’re doing great things here. Help us continue to keep the numbers low by continuing to do the right stuff.”

The Capital Region, which also includes Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Washington, Warren, Columbia and Greene counties, is tracking coronavirus cases in a regional “control room” where data will be sorted to determine if the rate of infections is remaining under control and if subsequent stages of reopening can continue.

Retail, wholesale trade, agriculture and manufacturing businesses went back into business Wednesday as part of the state’s reopening plan. McCoy said phase two could start June 3 if there is no spike in hospitalization rates or deaths.

Below are the latest coronavirus statistics for the Capital Region broken down by county.

Albany County
Total cases: 1,552 (+71)	Total deaths: 72 (+2)
Currently hospitalized: 27 (-3)	Recovered: 1,026 (+13)
Total tested: 18,663 (+697)	Tested positive: 8.3%
Columbia County
Total cases: 353 (+0)	Total deaths: 29 (+1)
Currently hospitalized: 18 (-1)	Recovered: 165 (+1)
Total tested: 2,958 (+107)	Tested positive: 11.9%
Greene County
Total cases: 252 (+2)	Total deaths: 17 (+0)
Currently hospitalized: 4 (-1)	Recovered: 231 (+19)
Total tested: 2,104 (+189)	Tested positive: 11.9%
Rensselaer County
Total cases: 482 (+6)	Total deaths: 28 (+0)
Currently hospitalized: 6 (+0)	Recovered: 339 (+22)
Total tested: 2,792 (+292)	Tested positive: 17.3%
Saratoga County
Total cases: 434 (+2)	Total deaths: 15 (+0)
Currently hospitalized: 6 (+0)	Recovered: 349 (+5)
Total tested: 9,302 (+267)	Tested positive: 4.7%
Schenectady County
Total cases: 624 (+6)	Total deaths: 29 (+1)
Currently hospitalized: 17 (-1)	Recovered: 579 (+7)
Total tested: 7,832 (+392)	Tested positive: 8%
Warren County
Total cases: 223 (+1)	Total deaths: 29 (+0)
Currently hospitalized: 2 (+0)	Recovered: 142 (+0)
Total tested: 3,238 (+102)	Tested positive: 6.9%
Washington County
Total cases: 192 (+0)	Total deaths: 13 (+0)
Currently hospitalized: –	Recovered: 169 (+26)
Total tested: 2,139 (+66)	Tested positive: 9%

Source: Case data per counties; test data per NY COVID tracker

Note: Number in parentheses is the daily change. Hospitalization data reflects number of residents hospitalized, with the exception of Schenectady County, which includes non-residents who are hospitalized within the county.