Tim Blydenburgh is reporting for the Times Union that Albany County Executive Dan McCoy announced March 19 he has COVID-19 and is recovering at home. McCoy has been one of the most prominent local faces in the fight against the virus since the pandemic began. “I have confirmed with my doctor that I’ve contracted COVID-19," he said. "While I’m feeling under the weather, I’m thankful that I’m fully vaccinated and boosted, because this very well could have been much worse. I am isolating and recovering at home." Just the day before the county ran down the statistics for the disease, indicating that more than 62,600 people in Albany County have contracted the coronavirus since March 2020, with 46 new cases reported March 17.  The next day McCoy reported the county’s seven-day average of new daily positive cases rose from 29.5 to 33.1. "It’s moments like this that remind us that COVID is still not done with us yet,” McCoy said. More than 81 percent of all Albany County residents have received at least the first dose of the vaccine and 74 percent are fully vaccinated. The virus has killed 536 people in the county. In August 2020, McCoy told reporters he had antibodies from a bout of COVID-19 that he believes he contracted around the first of that year. He had an antibody test in May 2020, that revealed he had previously contracted the virus. Statewide, the number of hospitalizations was at 925, the lowest number since Aug. 3, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said over the weekend. There were five deaths reported since March 18. Read the full story in the Times Union.