Coronavirus

Lawmakers Return to Changed Legislative Session

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Legislature resumed Monday a legislative session that looks much different from when it began three months ago. Wearing masks and sitting apart, lawmakers gathered without lobbyists in the hallways or members of the public in the galleries, kept out of the State House over coronavirus health concerns. In the House, many Democrats stayed home Monday in protest, saying lawmakers shouldn't be meeting or passing budgets yet. While passing the General Fund and education budgets are the stated purpose of resuming the session that must end by May 18, they're not the only bills in play. The Alabama Senate on Monday considered local bills and formal resolutions but also passed Gov. Kay Ivey's bond issue proposal borrowing $1.25 billion for school construction and capital improvements. Senators on Tuesday could consider legislation giving them and their House colleagues significant say in how the state’s nearly $1.8 billion in federal coronavirus relief money, and future funds, are spent. Read more.

by Mary Sell and Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

More Businesses Reopen After Ivey’s New COVID-19 Order, but Slowly

Gov. Kay Ivey gave new orders last week regarding which businesses may reopen after shutting down because of the COVID-19 outbreak. But while some reopened at the stroke of 5 p.m. Thursday, others are slower to get back to businesses, and many had yet to open their doors again as of Monday evening. The Riverchase Galleria, which is the largest enclosed mall in the state, will remain closed until Tuesday, according to a press statement issued by mall operators. “We anticipate that the Mall’s food-use tenants may continue to operate for carryout and delivery service,” the statement said, adding that the Galleria’s popular Mall Walker Program is suspended for the moment. The sight of an empty Galleria parking lot has been startling for April Stone, executive director of the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce. “I would come into our office to check mail and so forth, and to look out on the lot in the middle of the day — it was like Christmas Day with no one open,” she said. Meanwhile, professional organizations such as law or accounting firms, as well as many government agencies, mostly continue to operate remotely with their staffs working from home. Industrial employers varied in the degree to which they have been able to operate, either due to government directives or greatly decreased orders that made normal operation unprofitable. Read more. Also read: Shoppers Emerge From Quarantine as State Eases COVID-19 Emergency Order

by Robert Carter

UAB Furloughs Staffers and Cuts Pay Amid Pandemic

UAB announced Monday that more than 300 university staff members will be temporarily furloughed in an effort to offset significant financial losses due to COVID-19. UAB Medicine projects a $230 million loss through the end of September. Meanwhile, the university projects a $40 million loss. Read more.

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

State House Preview: Lawmakers Want Say in Spending of Federal Coronavirus Funds

The Alabama Senate this week will consider legislation giving it and the House significant say in how the state’s nearly $1.8 billion in federal coronavirus relief money, and future funds, are spent. The Senate General Fund budget committee last week amended an existing bill, Senate Bill 161 related to supplemental appropriations, to create a three-person panel of the governor and the Legislature’s two General Fund budget chairmen to make decisions about that money. “This is almost equal to the General Fund budget; we believe it makes sense that we have a voice,” Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Range, told Alabama Daily News. Read more.

by Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

Alabama Reports 277 More COVID-19 Cases. Who’s More Likely to Die?

Alabama had added 277 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the end of the day Sunday, bringing the total cases in the state to 7,888, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. Of those, 290 people reportedly have died from the disease. Earlier in the day, when the Health Department was reporting 289 deaths, it also was reporting that 18 of the deaths were among people who had no underlying disease. More than half of those who have died also have had cardiovascular disease and more than a third have had diabetes. As of now, two-thirds of those who have died have been women, reversing an earlier trend toward more men having died. Half of those who have died in the state have been white, and 38.9 percent of those who have died have been black. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama Adds 317 COVID-19 Cases

Alabama logged 317 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 7,611. However, the death toll was revised downward by one, to 288. The Alabama Department of Public Health now reports the number of coronavirus deaths health officials across the state report to it, before conducting its own investigation. Presumably, one of the cases reported earlier from Lee County turned out to have been a death caused by factors other than the virus. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

DAs Look to Legislature for Funding Help After COVID-19

MONTGOMERY — Several district attorneys in Alabama say the coronavirus pandemic has reduced funding for their offices and they’re looking to the Legislature for help. At least two DAs have already cut staffing or salaries because of the drop in revenue, they said. District attorneys receive about 30% of their funding from the state’s General Fund budget. The other 70% comes from court fees and fines. “To collect that 70%, three things have to be working,” Morgan County DA Scott Anderson recently said. “The economy, law enforcement writing tickets and making arrests and the courts holding court. All three of those things came to a halt with the coronavirus.” Read more.

by Caroline Beck and Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News

COVID-19 Cases Rise by 226 Friday, 17 More Alabamians Die

On Friday, 226 more cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Alabama, bringing the total since the pandemic began to 7,294. Another 17 people died the same day, for a total of 289 deaths from the disease. Thirty-one people were hospitalized Friday with the coronavirus. Since the first case was reported March 13, 1,021 people have been hospitalized at one point or another, according to Alabama Department of Public Health data. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

18 Deaths, 85 COVID-19 Cases at Veterans Home

MONTGOMERY — The Bill Nichols Veterans Home in Alexander City had 42 active cases of COVID-19 Friday and has had 18 deaths, Alabama Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis said Friday. Since testing began April 3, the home, which has been particularly hard hit, has had 85 confirmed cases among residents. Thirty-nine employees have tested positive since March 30. Read more.

by Caroline Beck, Alabama Daily News

Shoppers Emerge From Quarantine as State Eases COVID-19 Emergency Order

Across Alabama, because of closure orders issued to counter the growing threat of the coronavirus, the retail hearts of cities and towns have been on life support. In the Birmingham area, the 18th Street shopping district in Homewood was a prime example. But on a bright blue Friday morning, you could detect a heartbeat in Homewood, one that retailers hope will get stronger in the weeks and months to come. As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the closure orders were lifted in large part for many retail businesses. Those orders had been part of a state-issued Stay-at-Home directive. A new directive, Safer at Home, is now in place and will be until May 15. As a result, shops that sell clothing, home furnishings, gifts and other items in downtown Homewood opened their doors Friday to walk-in traffic for the first time since late March, or even earlier. And while the walk-in traffic was not overwhelming, it was steady – and encouraging. “All things considered, it’s been a great day,” said Beth Staula, one of the owners of Alabama Goods. “Some people are still a little bit intimidated and they’re probably still at home hunkered down and less likely to go out shopping,” Staula said near the end of a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. business day. “But for the people who are less intimidated, they don’t seem to be too worried about it and … everyone seems to be glad to start seeing some normalcy back in their lives.” Read more.

by Tom Gordon