MONTGOMERY — Alabama Community College System leadership on Wednesday said campuses are planning to reopen in the fall, subject to guidance from Gov. Kay Ivey regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
Gov. Kay Ivey’s updated “safer-at-home” order puts most of the hospitality industry back to work. Some business owners were quick to open their doors, but others are sticking with curbside service only. Read more.
Alabama’s Public Service Commission is considering new rules that restrict recording formal hearings. Critics say the “Media Coverage Plan” goes too far and limits transparency of the agency. Read more.
Thirty-two people died of the novel coronavirus in Alabama on Tuesday and 300 new cases were added, bringing the state’s totals since the pandemic began to 435 deaths and 10,464 cases. Men and blacks have died at disproportionately high rates. Blacks make up 44.2% of the deaths, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, although the state’s population is just 26.8% black, according to the Census Bureau. Men make up 55.2% of the COVID-19 deaths but 48.4 percent of the state’s population. Read more.
Twenty-three residents at the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home in Alexander City have died from the COVID-19 virus, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs said Tuesday. There are 41 active resident cases of the virus, according to department spokesman Bob Horton. Read more.
The Birmingham City Council has delayed a proposal to bring a new football classic to Legion Field this October. Mayor Randall Woodfin’s proposal, which appeared before the council Tuesday, would make Legion Field the site of an annual football game between Morehouse and Tuskegee universities, two historically black colleges and universities. Read more.
Birmingham’s public safety curfew is no longer in effect, but the ordinance requiring masks or face coverings to be worn in public has been extended for another week.
The Birmingham City Council made those changes in response to Gov. Kay Ivey’s amended “safer-at-home” order, which went into effect Monday. The new order significantly loosened restrictions on public gatherings and allowing non-essential businesses, such as bars, restaurants and salons, to reopen “subject to social-distancing and sanitation rules.” Read more.
Restaurants, Gyms and Salons Reopening Slowly Under New COVID-19 Emergency Order
Alabama surpassed 10,000 cases of COVID-19 Monday and deaths topped 400. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported late Monday night that the state has had 10,164 confirmed cases of the disease since the pandemic began. That was a 275 case increase from late Sunday. Ten more people died Monday from COVID-19, bringing the total for the pandemic to 403. Over the weekend, the latest period reported by the Health Department, 423 people were hospitalized because of COVID-19. Since March, a total of 1,268 have been hospitalized with the disease. Read more.
In what one health researcher called an “amazing group effort” during the coronavirus crisis, several organizations have come together to devise a unified strategy to reach Latino and other non-English-speaking residents of Jefferson County with information and support. The need was evident – in a pandemic, all sectors of society are at risk of being infected and of infecting others. But the Latino community carries additional burdens. They have high risks of pre-existing conditions, including the nation’s highest incidence of diabetes, placing them at greater risk of dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Almost 85% of Latinos have Zoom-proof jobs and cannot work from home – and they work on the front lines of the viral threat in jobs predominately classified as “essential” in hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, construction and public works. To compound things, they are least likely of all major demographic groups to have health insurance. Read more.
At Bogue’s Restaurant, a longtime fixture on the city’s Southside, walk-in dining got off to a less-than-roaring start on Monday, the first day the eatery could reopen under the state’s amended Safer at Home order. By early afternoon, about 15 customers had gone in for breakfast or lunch, a number well below the curbside orders the eatery had been getting each day that it had been closed to indoor dining under the state’s earlier Stay at Home order. “We’ve been super slow today,” said restaurant manager Angela Chaffins. “I think it will pick up once everybody sees they can come in and everything’s safe.” Gov. Kay Ivey in March closed nonessential businesses in an effort to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has sickened more than 10,000 Alabamians. Now the state is being reopened in phases. Ivey announced Friday that restaurant dining rooms, salons and barber shops, and athletic facilities could join the list of businesses that may reopen as of Monday. She also removed restrictions to allow groups of more than 10 people to gather. But the order also places restrictions on those businesses and gatherings. Her order still requires people to maintain social distances of six feet or more between themselves and others and it requires thorough hygiene measures be taken. In Birmingham, the city’s ordinance requiring people to wear masks or other face coverings also is in force through Friday. Read more.
