The latest wave of coronavirus cases continues in the upper Hudson Valley. There were nine new COVID-19 cases announced Oct. 29 in Columbia County. The Ichabod Crane schools, which have one student who tested positive in the middle school and two students in the high school, announced Oct. 29 that while the elementary and middle schools will be back to in-person classes on Oct. 30, the high school will not return to in-person classes until Nov. 9. Across the Hudson River, Greene County announced five more COVID-19 cases on Oct. 29. There were also five new cases announced in Rensselaer County on Oct. 29, with 88 active cases now in the county. In Albany County, the health department announced that four employees in the health department contracted the virus. “Four of our employees have tested positive and while the rest of the department is being tested, we are following the same protocol that we would expect of any other business and that means a two-week PAUSE at the ACDOH building,” said Albany County Executive Dan McCoy. “I have said it hasn’t gone away and it can impact anyone.” In all, Albany County announced 19 new cases on Oct. 29, with eight new people in the hospital for a total of 24 patients. That is the highest number of patients hospitalized with coronavirus from Albany County since June, and double the amount of hospitalized patients since just last week. "For a long time, we saw spikes in positive cases without it having a serious effect on our hospital data, but that is clearly not the case. What's more, is that our hospitals serve a massive region, not just Albany County, and that needs to be taken into consideration. And the sad truth is that as you start to see hospitalizations rise, you are likely to see more people losing their lives to the virus," McCoy said in a statement. Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed small gatherings for much of the new cases throughout the state, and worried that upcoming holidays would create more problems with people not wearing masks and breathing inside with each other. "It’s these small gatherings that are creating issues," Cuomo said.