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Even more COVID-19 positive cases locally
The COVID-19 new case numbers are still mostly at record highs throughout the Hudson Valley. That has been true in Columbia County all week, with 108 new cases announced Jan. 14. And of all the current cases in Columbia County this week, 132 were discovered at the privately-owned Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing at Barnwell nursing home in Valatie. Testing there Jan. 10 showed 95 residents and 37 staff were infected in the 236-bed facility. Three residents -- two of them unvaccinated -- were in the hospital. Barnwell has been cited by the Department of Health four times during the pandemic for infection control violations, according to citation reports, with more infection control violations than any other nursing home in the state during the pandemic. Barnwell was also cited twice during the pandemic for improperly reporting COVID-19 data, according to the Department of Health. Barnwell has received 13.3 citations per 100 beds, well above the average nursing home in New York, which is 2.1 citations per 100 beds in the four years ending Nov. 30, according to the Department of Health. Meanwhile, across the Hudson River, Greene County officials have not reported any COVID-19 information in several days, but there were 119 new cases in Greene County announced Jan. 14 on the state's COVID-19 webtracker site. Elsewhere, there were 406 new coronavirus cases announced in Rensselaer County Jan. 14, 823 more in Albany County, 373 new cases in Ulster County, and 708 new cases in Dutchess County.