ALBANY — Albany County Executive Dan McCoy says he is considering imposition of a curfew and fines for violations to stop people from holding parties and other gatherings that violate social distancing directives put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

McCoy says he still sees people – many of them young – failing to adhere to rules that require people to avoid casual contact with others.

Albany County has 238 positive coronavirus cases, McCoy said Thursday. Of the positive cases, 27 are hospitalized, with 12 in intensive care.

And in a sign that the arrival of downstate patients it having an impact on local hospitals, McCoy indicated Albany Medical Center now has more than 40 COVIC-19 patients from the New York City area, a jump from 14 such patients yesterday.

Speaking at a morning news conference, McCoy said he was also prepared to publicly reveal the identities of any businesses that engage in price gouging during the outbreak.

The number of people under mandatory quarantine – 401 – has dropped from Wednesday.

Rensselaer County announced first COVID-19 death on Thursday. A 68-year-old Sand Lake man was the first Rensselaer County resident to die after being infected with the coronavirus, the county executive's office said Thursday. The man did have pre-existing health conditions and died at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

Schenectady County's is nearing 100 coronavirus cases. The county reports 98 people have been diagnosed with the virus, up from 93 on Wednesday. Seventeen people are hospitalized and 321 are in quarantine. Twenty people have recovered but five have died.

McCoy says he hopes to have community testing open in next few days. The testing would still be reserved largely for people who are showing some sort of symptom of COVID-19, such as fever. The county hopes to re-open testing tents at local hospitals as well as a possible drive-thru testing site.

More community testing is likely to result in an increase in the number of diagnoses but health care experts say expanded testing will give a clearer picture of the pandemic's spread and ensure that more people know they have it and need to stay away from others.

McCoy also announced that local hospitals would be receiving shipments of facemasks donated by the Ford Motor Company. Ford is donating the masks to hospitals in Washington, California and New York.