Albany County Government: County Executive McCoy Announces Release Of COVID Book ‘Our Darkest Hours' With NYSAC

Press release from the Albany County Government:

06/25/2021 11:06 am

Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy today announced the release of a new book, Our Darkest Hours: County Leadership and the COVID Pandemic, which chronicles the individual and joint responses of New York’s counties through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book was commissioned by the New York State County Executives Association (NYSAC), through the New York State Association of Counties (NYSCEA), to document and share the hard lessons learned during the once-in-a-century public health crisis.

Part I of the book comes directly from the written or oral histories submitted by county executives to document what happened in their own counties. These riveting first-person accounts provide a glimpse into the fear, struggle, triumph, and pain that local leaders faced as they worked to protect their residents from an invisible and insidious enemy.

“There were too many lives lost and too many livelihoods damaged by COVID to let the experience gained during this crisis be lost to history. Despite my military background and training as a first responder, no one could have been adequately prepared for this crisis,” said County Executive McCoy, immediate past President of the New York State Association of County Executives. 

“We felt very strongly that the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic – both while I led the State Association of County Executives and after County Executive Molinaro took the helm – needed to be documented so that the next generation of local leaders is better equipped when disaster strikes,” he continued.

“The work that we did to stop the spread of the virus and get our communities vaccinated may be the most important work we ever do as county leaders,” said NYSCEA President and Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro. “We felt that we owed it to the county leaders who come after us to provide an accurate and unvarnished account of what happened so that when it’s their turn to step up as onsite incident commanders, they don’t have to re-learn the same hard lessons that many of us did.”

Part II provides a public policy account of the fractured federal and state response to COVID-19 and explores the economic impact of New York on Pause, the unprecedented state executive powers, and the diminution of local home rule. The Appendices include material relating to congressional actions, the state’s executive orders, and cases and COVID deaths by county by month from March 15, 2020 to March 15, 2021. 

“This book is a commemoration of the struggle and the hardship and what the county leaders are went through during the height of the pandemic. They were the ones on the ground working 15-hour days, seven days a week for 150 days, coordinating efforts to secure PPE, enforce mask and social distancing mandates while also encouraging residents to check on their neighbors and support struggling local businesses,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen Acquario. “These are stories that needed to be documented for posterity. They must not be forgotten.” 

Our Darkest Hours: County Leadership and the COVID Pandemic was written by Stephen Acquario, Mark Lavigne and Peter Golden. Softcover copies are available for purchase from Archway Publishing and Amazon for $19.99 and an e-book version can be purchased for $4.99. All proceeds from the book will be donated to Feeding New York State, which supports the ten regional food banks that have been feeding the hardest hit New Yorkers. 

Hyperlinked below is a one page excerpt from Chapter 2 of the book, which was written by County Executive McCoy. 

Our Darkest Hours Chapter 2 from CE McCoy

This press release was produced by the Albany County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.