Glenn Stephens

Gov. Ivey Calls Out Alabama National Guard to Help with Vaccination Push

The effort to get COVID vaccines into the arms of more and more rural Alabamians is getting some help from the state’s National Guard. Gov. Kay Ivey activated guardsmen Tuesday, with a mission to spread into areas that have few or no vaccine sites. A statement issued by Ivey’s office said the National Guard will be deployed in two teams of 55 members each, setting up mobile vaccination sites in at least 24 counties. The mission begins on March 23, with the teams rotating through the counties. The teams will have the capacity to vaccinate at least 1,000 people per site per day, Monday through Thursday, for a total of 8,000 shots per week. They will be assisted by the Alabama Department of Public Health, county health departments and local law enforcement. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Average COVID-19 Case Numbers Sink to Lowest Level in Eight Months

The state's daily average number of new cases of COVID-19 has fallen to its lowest level in more than eight months, according to Tuesday's update by the Alabama Department of Public Health. ADPH reported 524 new cases of the disease. The state has averaged 583 cases a day over the past week, the lowest weekly average since a count of 597 on June 22. There have been 500,616 cases in Alabama since the pandemic began a year ago. The daily update listed 38 deaths, for an overall total of 10,186. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama Would Lose Seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas Under Federal Proposal

A proposal before the federal Office of Management and Budget would reduce the number of Metropolitan Statistical Areas in Alabama from 12 to five, a move that is not welcomed by officials of the cities losing the MSA status. A committee of federal statistical agencies has made the proposal to OMB that would leave intact MSAs with 100,000 populations in their core cities. In Alabama, that’s Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.  The remaining seven MSAs statewide would be reclassified as “micropolitan” statistical areas with core populations of 50,000 to 99,999. Those are Decatur, Dothan, Baldwin County, Auburn-Opelika, Florence-Muscle Shoals, Anniston-Oxford, and Gadsden. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

COVID-19 Cases Continue to Drop, Even as Alabama’s Total Passes a Half Million

The daily number of new COVID-19 cases in Alabama dropped Monday to its lowest level since early last summer, though the state's total for the pandemic moved past the 500,000 level. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 273 new cases of the coronavirus in its daily update, the lowest daily figure since the count of 220 on June 3. That pushed the total to 500,092 -- 10.19% of the state's population. Alabama has averaged 601 cases a day over the past week, the lowest since an average of 598, also on June 3. The number of people being treated in hospitals for COVID-19 also continued to fall. ADPH said there were 494 inpatients on Sunday, down from a total of 1,528 one month ago and a high of 3,084 on Jan. 11. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

COVID-19 Count Nears Half-Million Level in Alabama

Alabama's COVID-19 count crept toward the half-million mark Saturday as the state Department of Public Health reported 524 new cases of the disease. That brought the number of cases of the coronavirus in the state to 499,411 over the course of the year-long pandemic. The agency added 65 deaths in its daily update, raising the overall number to 10,149. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama Adds 811 Cases of COVID-19, 28 Deaths

Alabama added 811 new cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths from the disease in Friday's daily update by the state Department of Public Health. There have been 498,887 cases of the coronavirus in the state since the pandemic began last March. The report  showed a total of 10,122 deaths. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Remembering Homewood Resident And Civil Rights Activist Eileen Walbert

Alabamians are mourning the death of lifelong civil rights activist Eileen Walbert, a white woman who made fighting for racial equality her life’s work. She and her husband Jim moved to Homewood in the late 40s. Born in Virginia in 1920, Walbert was aware of the racial tensions between Blacks and whites but moving to the deep south was different.  “She didn’t see the swastikas when she arrived here, but she saw the colored and white signs which represented the swastikas,” said historian Horace Huntley. Huntley, former leader of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute’s oral history project, said Walbert was determined to challenge the racial inequalities of Birmingham and her Homewood neighborhood.  Walbert and her husband befriended a couple who were refugees from Europe during World War II. Soon after, the couple introduced the Walbert’s to the Civil Rights Movement.  Read more.

by Janae PIerre, WBHM

Number of COVID-19 Vaccine Shots Given in Alabama Surpasses 1 million

More than a million doses of vaccines for COVID-19 have been administered in Alabama, the state Department of Public Health said Thursday. In its daily update, the agency said 1,003,396 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been given, and 352,749 individuals have received both shots. A total of 1,475,925 doses have been delivered to the state. ADPH reported 922 new cases of the coronavirus in Thursday's daily update, bringing the total to 498,076 since the pandemic began a year ago. There were 65 new deaths, raising the total to 10,094. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama’s COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 10,000 in Wednesday Report

Alabama's COVID-19 death count moved past the 10,000 mark in Wednesday's update by the state Department of Public Health. The agency added 38 deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the total to 10,029 since the pandemic began almost a year ago. The agency reported 2,733 cases of COVID-19 in the report but said 2,114 of those were delayed reports from May 2020. That left 619 new cases for the 24-hour period covered by the update. There have been 497,154 cases throughtout the pandemic. Including just the new cases in Wednesday's report, the state has averaged 688 cases a day over the past week, the lowest weekly average since as count of 678 on June 24. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

No Haven on Campus: Sad to See College Newspapers Disappearing

I no longer ask my classes “When was the last time you read a newspaper?” It’s roughly equivalent to asking “How many of you came to class today in a stagecoach?” Generation Z gets its news online. That’s one big reason that a growing number of college campus news outlets have reduced the frequency of their print editions, or have abandoned them. The Auburn Plainsman announced Thursday that its weekly print publications are done. Editor Jack West correctly noted the irony: Most of his readers will read the announcement online. What’s happening among campus newspapers reflects what’s happening among professional newspapers. Except college publications can’t try to save themselves with paid subscriptions because they place their editions around campus for free reading. The pandemic has severely limited the number of students walking on campus, not to mention the ability to sell advertising, but the larger forces working against print products have been conspiring since before COVID-19. Read more.

by Tom Arenberg