Virginia Martin

Shades of Gray? Not When It Comes to Bingo in Jefferson County

The Jefferson County Commission today denied a rezoning request for a private club in Corner, suspecting that the establishment would be used for bingo. “The applicant wasn't here but we kind of got a little birdie telling us that may be a bingo hall,” Commissioner Joe Knight said after the meeting. “We don't want bingo halls. We've got plenty. We don't need all the bingo halls where these cities are passing ordinances prohibiting them coming to the county.” Knight said some may have viewed unincorporated Jefferson County as a gray area beyond the jurisdiction of cities that have expressly forbidden bingo businesses. “We don't want to be the gray area and we need to tighten that up a little bit with our ordinances as far as what we allow and what we do,” Knight said. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Spreading Like Wildfire: Alabama’s COVID New-Case Numbers Set All-Time Records

On the final day of November, the 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases stood at 283 per day in Alabama. What a difference a new variant makes. As the omicron variant of the virus has spread rapidly across the nation, the current 7-day average has surged to 8,044.71 new daily cases, which is more than 28 times the pre-omicron low point reached Nov. 30. It’s also a new record high for the pandemic and confirms the fears of public health officials that omicron is much more contagious than the delta variant that caused a surge last year, as well as the original virus that triggered the pandemic in early 2020. Read more.

by Robert Carter

BJCC Will Open as Warming Station Thursday and Friday

The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex will open to the public as a warming station Thursday and Friday, when the temperatures are forecast to fall into the 20s, the city of Birmingham announced Wednesday. The announcement came after the city faced criticism for not opening Boutwell Auditorium earlier this week as snow fell and temperatures dipped below freezing. Mayor Randall Woodfin in a statement said Boutwell Auditorium was “unavailable,” although the city has not revealed why. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

One Year Later: Alabamians Arrested in Connection With the U.S. Capitol Insurrection

Almost a dozen Alabamians have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and many have trials or sentencings upcoming in the next few months. Read more.

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

State Health Officer Warns Alabama Is ‘Not in a Good Place’ Fighting the Omicron Variant

WBHM Alabama’s top doctor sounded the alarm Tuesday as the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread across Alabama leaving new record numbers in its wake. During a media briefing, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Alabama’s positivity rate is almost 39%. That means nearly four in 10 tests came back positive. “We, unfortunately, are not in a really good place right now,” he said. “We’re seeing the highest daily case numbers that we have seen since the pandemic began.” Read more.

by Janae Pierre, WBHM

Jefferson County Commission Kicks Staff Out of Meeting as COVID Rages Across the Community

UPDATED with request to avoid emergency departments for tests or minor symptoms. Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens opened the commission committee meeting Tuesday by sending department heads and staff out of the room to guard against the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19. “It's a reminder for those people that we need to continue to practice social distancing,” Stephens said after the meeting. The commission president cited reports that cloth face masks are not the most effective in protecting against the spread of the omicron variant. “You need to do a KN95 or an N95 mask, if indeed you feel at risk,” Stephens said. “The main thing to do is to practice your social distancing because if the masks are proved ineffective, the only other tool we have if we're going to come to work is … either management needs to supply everyone with KN95 or N95 masks or we need to practice social distancing. “I pretty much told staff through the county manager that they should be on Zoom or be virtual,” he said, “and let the commission tend to the business of the commission.” Stephens’ comments came as omicron rages across the state. Alabama reached a record 38.5% positivity rate Tuesday as another 7,562 new cases were reported and 41 new deaths. Jefferson County contributed 1,501 of those cases and four of the deaths, and the positivity rate broke 40% for the first time. In total, 921,175 Alabamians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Every county in the state is classified as being at high risk of community transmission of the virus. Read more. Also read: COVID Surge Continues, Could Peak in Mid- to Late-January

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

COVID Surge Continues, Could Peak in Mid- to Late-January

Alabama logged 16,999 new cases of coronavirus over the weekend and reached a positivity rate of 36.4%. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the state has had 913,613 total cases of COVID-19. However, no new deaths were reported over the weekend. So far 16,455 Alabamians have died from the virus. Jefferson County’s positivity rate, the rate of COVID tests that returned a positive result, is now a record 39.2%. Another 3,465 new cases of COVID were reported over the weekend, bringing the county’s total cases since the pandemic began to 130,048. Read more.

by Virginia Martin

They Were the Pandemic’s Perfect Victims

With the advent of COVID-19, nearly 18,000 more dialysis patients died in 2020 than would have been expected based on previous years. That staggering toll represents an increase of nearly 20% from 2019, when more than 96,000 patients on dialysis died, according to federal data released this month.

The loss led to an unprecedented outcome: The nation’s dialysis population shrank, the first decline since the U.S. began keeping detailed numbers nearly a half century ago.

They were COVID-19’s perfect victims.

Best of BirminghamWatch 2021

BirminghamWatch this week is revisiting its best and most popular work from 2021 in a series of packages on Race and Hate Crime, the COVID-19 Pandemic and Politics. COVID-19

Alabama Population Shrinks Under Weight of COVID-19 Deaths

March 11, 2020: The Day COVID-19 Became Real for America, and What’s Happened Since

Schools Opening Short on Teachers Because of an Increase in Retirements

Federal COVID Relief Funds Enabled Churches and Other Religious Organizations to Pay Employees

Race and Hate Crime

Lady Justice Is Not Wearing a Blindfold

Alabama is Home to 20 Hate Groups, 838 Operate Nationwide, SPLC Says

A Lack of Hate or Lack of Reporting?: Alabama Has Reported Zero Hate Crimes in the Past Two Years

Politics

Woodfin Reelected Birmingham Mayor in Landslide

‘For everything there is a season’: Richard Shelby Declines Senate Reelection Run in 2022

Mt Brook Donations to Britt for Senate Signal Views from the GOP’s Business Wing

Sewell, Alabama’s Lone Congressional Democrat, Seeks to Strengthen Voting Rights, Defeat Party Infighting

by BirminghamWatch

BirminghamWatch’s Best of 2021: COVID-19

Alabama Population Shrinks Under Weight of COVID-19 Deaths

For the first time in the history of Alabama, COVID-19 last year pushed the state’s death rate higher than the birthrate. “The state population is shrinking, and we have never seen that happen before in the history of Alabama,” Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Wednesday. In fact, more people died in Alabama last year than any other year on record. The Alabama Department of Public Health reports that 7,181 people died from COVID-19 last year. So far this year, there have been 5,603 COVID deaths, according to the ADPH. The combined number of deaths from COVID for 2020 and 2021 reported Wednesday is 12,784. The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama stated in a report earlier this year that, if earlier Census estimates were accurate, “The trend of deaths exceeding births in Alabama will happen again in 2021.” Read more. More Best of BirminghamWatch 2021