Hi everyone, we are tracking the numbers and our plan to start Winter Session on Jan. 18th. It is clear that travel and the holidays have made an impact and caused a spike in the local cases. Looking more carefully at the data, we are hopeful though that we will be able to return to the lab soon. We will make a final decision toward the end of the week as new data becomes available.
For reference we are over 2 times the daily infection rate than we were in late November/early December, 255 (now) vs 100 (then) new cases a day but it does look to be flattening out.
If we look at the number of COVID-19 deaths in NY, it’s clear we are much better at treating COVID-19 than we were at the start of the pandemic, as the number of cases is much higher now but the number of deaths remains much lower.
Locally in Albany, we are roughly at 1-3 deaths a day for the last month or so mostly from adult care centers/nursing homes. In light of the ability of hospitals to treat COVID-19 effectively, it is imperative local hospitals remain well below capacity. Hospital and ICU capacity in the capital region is at 23% and 18%, respectively, and we are not classified as a hotspot in the state of NY. The zone classifications are based on microclusters and hospital capacities.
If we look at relevant school numbers in our local area, there have been no new recent cases which is encouraging. This follows trends that have shown schools are safer due to the controlled environment and prevented policies in place to protect students. At the STEAMwhiz lab, we have set up even more stringent protocols to make sure our students are safe. In fact, this 2-week delay is a proactive measure we took to ensure our student’s safety! Let’s see how things shake out by the end of the week.
Finally, we are reaching out to STEAMwhiz parents regarding STEAMwhiz masks for use during labs. We have fabricated 40% of the masks for STEAMwhiz students and hope to finish them in the next week or so. Be on the lookout for a message from us in the near future. Thank you for your patience and we look forward to having the students back in the lab soon!
