Yep. After a week when new COVID-19 cases most days hovered around 500 – and one day 664 new cases were reported – the total Saturday rose by only 58 cases.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t indicate that the disease has dropped drastically and suddenly, but that the state changed the way it reports cases.

The Alabama Department of Public Health on its COVID-19 dashboard has begun listing probable cases. Those account for people who have COVID-19 symptoms and are known to have had close contact with someone who has the disease, but no lab test results have yet been submitted.

The Health Department Saturday at midnight listed 290 probable cases and 17,359 confirmed cases.

Technically, the state-reported count of confirmed cases for Saturday showed an increase of 421. But that includes cases that were reported on the dashboard and website Friday after the numbers were calculated for the state’s daily case count graphic. The Health Department pulls that count earlier in the day. BirminghamWatch includes cases reported through midnight each day. Thus the increase from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday was 58.

At least 18 more people also died of the disease Saturday. Deaths have risen to 618, up from 610 Friday at midnight. That does not count two probable deaths, which the Health Department also has added to its dashboard. That number represents people whose death certificates say they died of the disease but for whom the state does not have confirmatory lab results.

Despite the slow growth in cases, Jefferson County added 36 confirmed cases Saturday, bringing the total to 1,780. Deaths held steady at 102.

Mobile, which has the most cases in the state, also added 29 confirmed cases, bringing its total to 2,191. The county had one more confirmed death, taking the total to 115.

Montgomery County also has added 42 cases since Friday at midnight, for a total of 1,632. Deaths remained stable at 38.

Here is the full list of counties with the total number of confirmed cases, number of tests conducted and number of confirmed deaths:

 

Autauga					216	2130	4
Baldwin					283	7787	9
Barbour					150	820	1
Bibb					72	1327	1
Blount					61	1541	1
Bullock					203	582	4
Butler					402	1562	17
Calhoun					154	3556	3
Chambers					353	1551	25
Cherokee					37	933	3
Chilton					100	1513	1
Choctaw					151	457	8
Clarke					142	1192	2
Clay					27	464	2
Cleburne					14	231	1
Coffee					229	1757	1
Colbert					178	2492	2
Conecuh					39	360	1
Coosa					38	282	1
Covington					77	1149	1
Crenshaw					76	732	3
Cullman					126	3134	0
Dale					110	1124	0
Dallas					260	2041	3
DeKalb					243	1891	3
Elmore					339	3202	8
Escambia					57	1157	3
Etowah					248	4344	11
Fayette					15	619	0
Franklin					545	2090	7
Geneva					40	629	0
Greene					94	499	4
Hale					159	1170	8
Henry					74	515	2
Houston					209	3591	4
Jackson					77	2349	2
Jefferson					1780	38603	102
Lamar					23	521	0
Lauderdale					161	3775	2
Lawrence					48	727	0
Lee					540	6365	33
Limestone					94	2278	0
Lowndes					238	655	12
Macon					75	730	4
Madison					327	15453	4
Marengo					163	1542	6
Marion					121	1249	11
Marshall					687	5634	9
Mobile					2191	20966	115
Monroe					37	571	2
Montgomery					1632	9521	38
Morgan					251	3896	1
Perry					37	779	0
Pickens					111	965	4
Pike					198	1594	0
Randolph					125	947	7
Russell					167	1518	0
Shelby					503	9279	19
St. Clair					118	3250	1
Sumter					220	1026	6
Talladega					109	2967	3
Tallapoosa					423	2617	64
Tuscaloosa					738	10874	14
Unknown or Out of State					N/A	0	N/A
Walker					344	3401	2
Washington					68	595	6
Wilcox					144	572	7
Winston					88	1233	0
	Cases: 17359	Tested: 214876	Deaths: 618