Alabama’s COVID-19 numbers continue to improve, dropping to levels not seen since last summer.

In Birmingham Watch’s periodic analysis of COVID data, the 7-day average of new cases reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health is down to 490.86 per day. That’s the lowest average seen since June 10 of last year, and a fall of better than 88% since the peak level on Jan. 10. The longer-term 14-day average is slightly higher at 521.86 new cases per day.

Similarly, the death toll is also seeing a decline, with both the 7-day and 14-day moving averages dropping below 20 for the first time since last November. The 7-day mark stands at 17.71, its lowest since early December and down 88% from the record high set on Jan. 26. The 14-day average of 18.93 is off by about the same percentage from the peak in early February.

Hospitalization counts leveled off over the past week but are down by more than half from a month ago. Tuesday’s count of hospitalized COVID patients in Alabama stood at 401, after falling below 400 for most of the week, and the 7-day average stood at 387.71. It’s the first time levels this low have been recorded since April 20, which was only six weeks after the first hospitalized COVID cases were reported.

Jefferson County had 534 new COVID cases in the past seven days, a 7-day average of 76.29 cases per day. Seventeen deaths were reported over the period. There have been 74,256 cases and 1,453 deaths in the county since the pandemic began. The county’s 14-day average positivity rate — the percentage of COVID tests that returned positive results — is at 7.88%, slightly higher than the previous seven days.

Since the pandemic began in March 2020, slightly more than 10% of all Jefferson County residents have tested positive for COVID-19.

The number of Alabamians who have completed their vaccination process passed the half-million mark this week, with 561,755 people having received both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine. In total, 1,465,628 doses have been administered out of 2,080,695 delivered to the state.

Birmingham Watch’s analysis is based on numbers updated each day by the ADPH on its website.

#   #   #