Coronavirus

Daily COVID-19 Count Shows Big Decline to 321 Cases

The COVID-19 count took another dramatic drop Friday, with the Alabama Department of Public Health reporting only 321 confirmed new cases for the latest 24-hour period.  That was the lowest daily count since 390 cases were reported on June 17. It brought the average daily number for the past week to 801, the lowest since an average of 764 on June 28. The figures brought Alabama's total number of cases since the pandemic began in mid-Marsh to 107,804; Friday's 16 deaths left the total at 1,921. Another 4,966 cases and 69 deaths are listed as probably associated with the coronavirus.  Read more.

Better Days: Alabama COVID-19 Numbers Are Headed in the Right Direction

The outlook for the COVID-19 outbreak continues to improve, as the number of new cases in Alabama trends downward for the fourth straight week. The number of deaths in the past seven days is the lowest since late June, and the positivity rate — the percentage of overall tests for the week that had positive results — has fallen to its lowest level in more than two months. In Birmingham Watch’s weekly analysis of data reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health, the 7-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases is 854.71 per day, down by more than 434 cases from the previous week and cut by more than half from the record high in July. The longer-term 14-day average is at 1,072, down by 301.5 from the week before and dipping to a level not seen since July 8. Read more.

COVID-19 Totals Increase by 699 Cases and 29 Deaths in Thursday Report

Alabama recorded 699 new cases of COVID-19 and 29 deaths from the disease in Thursday's daily report by the state Department of Public Health. The updated figures raised the state's totals to 107,483 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 1,905 deaths attributed to it. The figures reflect a downward trend in the rate of infections over the past month. The daily number of new cases has been below the 1,000-mark for five of the past seven days and 10 times in the past month. Read more.

Albert Trousdale’s Son Points COVID-19 Skeptics to a Tombstone

This is the third installment in BirminghamWatch’s series Not Forgotten: Alabama’s COVID Dead In the weeks since Albert Trousdale became one of the first people in Alabama to die from COVID-19, his son has been struggling with a haunting question. Matt Trousdale wonders if the survivors of other coronavirus victims face the same kind of social stigma that confronts his family on a regular basis. Although many people are kind to him and his relatives, he said, far too many digress onto a less compassionate path. They claim the disease is a hoax, or part of some political conspiracy, or a way for hospitals to make more money by chalking up every ailment to the coronavirus. He has overheard other people in his small community in east Lauderdale County talking about his grieving family and questioning their belief that COVID-19 killed his father. Had his dad died of suicide or some other tragedy, he wonders, would people show the same lack of empathy? “I know if they are going to say something about my dad, they are going to end up telling me their political affiliation,” Matt said, emotional pain bleeding through his voice. Read more. More of Not Forgotten: Alabama’s COVID Dead

Almost 1,900 Alabamians Have Fallen to COVID-19. Who Were They?

The First Person Known to Die in Alabama After Contracting COVID-19 Never Let Her Disability Define Her

Number of New COVID-19 Cases Grows by 969 in Wednesday Report

The number of COVID-19 cases in Alabama grew by 969 Wednesday to a total of 106,784, the Alabama Department of Public Health reported. The state added nine deaths during the latest 24-hour period, raising the total since the pandemic began in mid-March to 1,876. An additional 4,694 cases and 68 deaths were listed as probably from the coronavirus. The state has averaged 855 new cases per day over the past week; the highest daily total during that period was 1,220 on Aug. 18 and the lowest was 516 on Aug. 17. For the past two weeks, the daily totals have ranged from 1,786 on Aug. 8 to 516 on Aug. 17, with an average of 1,072 new cases daily for the 14-day period. Read more.

Alabama Reports Highest Number of New Cases of COVID-19 in More Than a Week

Alabama reversed a decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, recording 1,220 cases to raise its total for the pandemic to 105,715. There were 12 deaths in the 24-hour period covered by the Alabama Department of Public Health's report, bringing the total to 1,867. Another 4,409 cases and 70 deaths were listed as probably from the coronavirus. The report marked the highest daily number of new cases since 1,352 were reported on Aug. 10. And it ended a seven-day decline in the rolling daily average for a one-week period. That figure stood at 841 cases a day after falling every day from 1,352 on Aug. 10 to 744 on Monday. Read more.

COVID-19 Tracking App Available to the Public

A phone app built by UAB and Birmingham-based MotionMobs that anonymously tracks COVID-19 exposure became available today to all Alabama residents. "Alabama is the first state to launch the app," said Dr. Karen Landers, district medical officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health. Read more.

Coronavirus Spread Continues to Slow but 25 More Deaths Were Logged Today

Alabama added just 516 COVID-19 cases to its tally today, more evidence that the spread of the new coronavirus is slowing throughout the state. But 25 more people died of the disease, according to this morning’s coronavirus update filed by the Alabama Department of Public Health. Since the pandemic began in March, the state has reported 104,595 confirmed cases of the virus and another 4,409 probable cases. Of those, 13,973 cases have been reported in the past 14 days. Read more.

Almost 1,900 Alabamians Have Fallen to COVID-19. Who Were They?

Dr. Chaihan Korn. Phacethia Posey. Billy Ray Woods. Michael Woods.Robert Stewart. Clarence Shepherd. William Hershell Moon. Dave Thomas. Wayman Henry. We know the names of people who have died after contracting the coronavirus — when they’re celebrities or otherwise prominent. But we know very little about the nearly 1,900 Alabamians who have lost their lives due to the coronavirus and related illness during the pandemic. The confirmed numbers may not even be the complete totals. Only a handful of the residents of the state who have died in connection with the pandemic — including the Alabamians listed in the first paragraph — have been identified publicly. Until recently, most did not even know the name of the first person in Alabama to die after a COVID-19 diagnosis. She was Jenny McDonald, a Jackson County woman whose winning nature shone through her challenging life and who touched a community in unexpected ways. The basic overall information has been known. As of late last week, 41% of those who died were black and 53% were white, with the rest being of other races or their races were unknown. Almost 78% were 65 or older; more than 17% were between the ages of 50 and 64; more than 4% were between the ages of 25 and 49. The genders were almost evenly split, with 51% of victims being male and 49% female. Of 1,830 confirmed cases Sunday, all but 65 had preexisting conditions. But psychologist Josh Klapow said knowing something personal about the people who have died could help society as a whole grapple with the reality of this unprecedented viral outbreak that has upended life throughout the world. Read more. Read the first in a series of stories about Alabamians who have been lost to COVID-19:

The First Person Known to Die in Alabama After Contracting COVID-19 Never Let Her Disability Define Her

The First Person Known to Die in Alabama After Contracting COVID-19 Never Let Her Disability Define Her

STEVENSON – Chicken has been gone since March 23, and things have not been the same for those who knew her, worked with her, loved her. Read more. Her full name was Thelma Jenny McDonald. Most folks called her Jenny, but among family and close friends, she had been Chicken since she was small. Just why, it’s not clear now, but Chicken was a term of endearment. Now it’s a term of bereavement. Born and raised in the northeastern corner of Alabama, Jenny McDonald was the first Alabamian to die after testing positive for the coronavirus. Loved ones say she’d had the shivers and nausea, had been in need of fluids and her kidneys had not been working right. She was just 53, and she had been living with her sisters Nannie and Mary in the Milltown section of Stevenson, a Tennessee Valley town that stands on land where Cherokees once lived, where Union soldiers held sway for much of the Civil War, and where freight trains run regularly past the old downtown depot.