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Coronavirus

Alabama Universities Try Vaccine Incentives to Boost Shots

Four-year universities in Alabama are using incentive programs to get their campus populations vaccinated against COVID-19 as students return to campuses. The state’s two largest universities, along with several other schools, have incentive programs. Students are not required to show proof of vaccination to go to universities in Alabama, thanks to a law passed earlier this year by the Alabama Legislature. But schools can still offer perks to encourage vaccinations. Community colleges around the state are also participating in incentive programs. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Total Alabama COVID Cases Surpass 700,000, Jefferson County Passes 100,000 as New-Case Averages Set Records

Alabama has reached another milestone in the COVID-19 outbreak, as the total of infections to date is now more than 700,000. In BirminghamWatch’s periodic analysis of statewide pandemic data, the latest milestone was reached Wednesday when 4,691 new cases were reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health. It has been just 27 days since the cumulative total passed the 600,000 mark, due primarily to the continuing march of the Delta variant throughout the nation. In Jefferson County, total cases also crossed a major threshold in the past week. On Friday, the cumulative county total passed 100,000 since the outbreak began, and it stood at 101,613 on Wednesday. The 7-day moving average of new daily cases in the county has increased to 709, just short of the all-time high of 752 just before last Christmas. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Alabama Adds 61 COVID-19 Deaths, 5,206 New Cases

State health officials reported Tuesday an additional 61 deaths from Covid, bringing the total since last Thursday in Alabama to 180. The state has recorded 12,283 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began. The number of Covid cases in 2020 and 2021 in Alabama is fast approaching 700,000, with the total reaching 699,729 on Tuesday, when the Alabama Department of Public Health reported 5,206 new cases. Across the state, there were 2,866 Covid patients at 104 hospitals Tuesday. The number of patients  increased by 62 since Monday. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

COVID Drives Up Costs at Jefferson County Jails

What looked to be a $500,000 cleaning bill for a month raised the eyebrows of Jefferson County Commissioners during their committee meeting Monday morning. The sheriff’s office had asked for more money during the final weeks of the 2020 fiscal year. The apparent reason was a hefty cleaning bill at the two county jails. But commissioners learned that increased expenses for feeding prisoners brought on by pandemic protocols contributed to the large request. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Daily Average for New COVID-19 Cases in Alabama Stands at 4,124

Alabama added an average of 4,124 new cases of COVID-19 a day over the past week, the state Department of Public Health reported Monday. The agency’s daily Covid update listed 3,072 new cases, bringing the state’s total for the pandemic to 694,523. There have been 12,222 deaths from the coronavirus in Alabama; no deaths were reported on Monday. Nationally, a University of Texas model of Covid deaths predicted that 100,000 more people will die between now and Dec. 1. The Centers for Disease Control reports that 636,015 people have died from the coronavirus since the pandemic began in March 2020. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

State Adds 50 COVID-19 Deaths, 5,033 New Cases in Friday Report

The Alabama Department of Public Health added 50 deaths from COVID-19 in Friday's daily update, bringing the state's total for the pandemic to 12,153. With the spread of the coronavirus accelerating, the death toll has risen by an average of 30 deaths a day over the past week. The overall number of cases of the coronavirus rose Friday to 681,828, an increase of 5,033 from Thursday's report. Alabama averaged 4,014 cases a day for the past week. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

Nurses in Alabama Hospitals Feeling the Strain from COVID-19 Surge

Eleven months ago, Anderson Lopez Castillo was a recent graduate of Auburn University’s School of Nursing. His first job was in the Covid unit at UAB Hospital. “It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions, and emotionally draining,” Castillo said Thursday. “I am doing everything that I can for this patient, and the staff is doing everything they can, and we just can’t get ahead.” He said the worst part is losing a patient and then walking into another patient’s room. “You have to think this patient may have a shot at getting out of here.” Nurses in hospitals across Alabama, and particularly those in intensive care units, are feeling growing pressure as COVID-19 cases surge, complicated by the ease with which the delta variant spreads. With one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, Alabama has seen a dramatic increase in recent weeks in the number of new cases and the number of patients in hospitals. Read more.

by Virginia MacDonald

Commission on Pandemic Response Narrows Scope; Federal Help Sent to South Alabama Hospitals

MONTGOMERY -- The commission charged with analyzing Alabama’s response to the COVID-19  on Wednesday agreed on questions to state agencies about how they reacted early in the pandemic. The commission’s work comes as the COVID-19 delta variant continues to hospitalize more Alabamians, 2,845 as of Wednesday, 41 of them children, according to the Alabama Hospital Association. Across the state, 840 people with COVID are in intensive care units, making up 52% of ICUs’ populations. Hospitals are struggling to staff the needed ICU beds. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris told the commission that a federal team of health care workers is being sent to a hospital in Dothan this weekend to handle the record-high number of COVID hospitalizations they’re seeing. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News
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