Saratoga County hiring more contact tracers | The Daily Gazette
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SARATOGA COUNTY With COVID-19 case numbers in the county surging in recent weeks, Saratoga County is planning to hire an additional 25 contact tracers to handle a volume of contact investigations that threatens to overwhelm county Public Health Services.
The county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the hiring of up to an additional 25 contract tracers at a rate of $25 per hour, bringing the total number of tracers the county has authorized hiring from 50 to 75. The board also authorized hiring an additional five tracing supervisors, who would earn $30 per hour.
Funding for the positions will come from a $1 million allocation supervisors approved last spring to pay for the county’s response to COVID-19 but county officials are also hoping for a state reimbursement.
Capital Region hovers around statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations, infection rates
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Staff with the Schenectady County Public Health Services conduct Covid testing at a parking lot at SUNY Schenectady on Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Schenectady, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)Paul Buckowski/Albany Times Union
ALBANY As COVID-19 surges in the state, the Capital Region has been hovering around statewide averages of hospitalization and infection rates.
As of Saturday, 0.03 percent of New York State residents have been hospitalized due to COVID-19 infections. The Capital Region’s hospitalization rate is a little less, with 0.02 percent of its population or 253 individuals hospitalized due to the virus. The region also has more capacity in its intensive care unit 43 percent of its beds available than the state average of 34 percent availability.