Confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Alabama have risen by 2,742 in the past week, an average of 391.7 cases per day. Deaths also have risen by 79, an average of 11.3 deaths a day.

That shows a decrease in average daily cases and a slight increase in average daily deaths from the week before, when the state averaged 519 total cases and 9.9 deaths a day.

Case counts and deaths reported on the Alabama Department of Public Health’s website had been undercounted this past week because the national surveillance system had been overwhelmed, department officials said. The result was that the site appeared to indicate Alabama was making more progress in the fight against the coronavirus than it actually was.

But the department reported Saturday morning that the backlog had been cleared and warned that the website then was showing sizeable increases in all numbers, which would explain the one-day increase of confirmed cases by 636 and confirmed deaths by 13.

The department also last Saturday changed the way it reported the numbers. Now it reports confirmed cases separately from probable cases. Probable cases are ones where doctors report a patient has had contact with someone who has the virus and the patient has symptoms of the disease, but, a test hasn’t been run to verify the diagnosis or the test results are not back. The confirmed description is used when test results have verified a diagnosis of COVID-19.

For the week-to-week case comparison, confirmed and probable cases in the past week were added together because those separate numbers were not available for the week before that.

Approaching 20,000 Confirmed Cases

Figures reported Saturday morning showed the state has had 19,709 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 334 probable cases. It also has had 685 confirmed deaths and four probable deaths.

Mobile County still leads the state in confirmed cases, with 2,377 cases and 124 deaths. But Montgomery County has taken over as the county with the second most cases. It is reporting 1,993 cases and 47 deaths.

Jefferson County follows, with 1,980 cases and 105 deaths.

Here is the list of counties and their cases, tests conducted and deaths:

Autauga					259	2506	5
Baldwin					304	8780	9
Barbour					190	932	1
Bibb					77	1468	1
Blount					70	1779	1
Bullock					225	663	7
Butler					442	1783	22
Calhoun					174	4594	3
Chambers					373	1698	26
Cherokee					40	998	4
Chilton					108	1633	2
Choctaw					155	501	10
Clarke					151	1402	2
Clay					29	514	2
Cleburne					15	379	1
Coffee					244	1909	1
Colbert					206	2892	4
Conecuh					44	422	1
Coosa					40	312	1
Covington					84	1261	1
Crenshaw					83	809	3
Cullman					180	3608	1
Dale					131	1328	0
Dallas					302	2337	3
DeKalb					268	2669	3
Elmore					401	3796	10
Escambia					82	1344	3
Etowah					270	5526	12
Fayette					17	702	0
Franklin					608	2436	9
Geneva					46	692	0
Greene					98	559	5
Hale					195	1382	11
Henry					85	599	2
Houston					237	4006	5
Jackson					88	2560	3
Jefferson					1980	43011	105
Lamar					28	594	0
Lauderdale					181	4111	2
Lawrence					53	819	0
Lee					577	7031	34
Limestone					119	2539	0
Lowndes					276	777	12
Macon					96	870	5
Madison					371	17341	5
Marengo					182	1738	6
Marion					126	1333	11
Marshall					730	6196	9
Mobile					2377	23115	124
Monroe					54	715	2
Montgomery					1993	11313	47
Morgan					361	4543	1
Perry					46	842	0
Pickens					122	1086	6
Pike					239	1911	1
Randolph					129	1023	8
Russell					193	1719	0
Shelby					542	10266	19
St. Clair					138	3887	2
Sumter					243	1071	8
Talladega					127	3362	5
Tallapoosa					439	2869	66
Tuscaloosa					896	13146	17
Unknown or Out of State					N/A	0	N/A
Walker					433	4519	3
Washington					77	680	6
Wilcox					167	698	7
Winston					93	1406	0
	Cases: 19709	Tested: 245310	Deaths: 685