Science

UAB Doc: COVID ‘Not Going Away’

The current surge in omicron cases is expected to last another two to three weeks, but that does not mean the virus is going away, a UAB epidemiologist said Tuesday. Dr. Suzanne Judd, professor and epidemiologist in the UAB School of Public Health, said she doesn’t know when the next surge in COVID-19 will come, but she’s pretty sure we’ll have one. People do not develop lasting immunity to COVID when they either get the virus or get vaccinated, partly because the virus mutates so easily. “I think it’s a pretty good indication that this one is not going away. we continue to see surges with new variants, and that’s likely to be what we’ll continue to see in the future,” Judd said. “So, herd immunity is probably not possible with this one, not the type of herd immunity where we never see the virus again. This one is where we’re probably going to see it pop up from time to time with regular surges.” Read more.

Alabama Breaks the 1 Million Mark in COVID-19 Cases

Sixteen thousand six hundred forty-one of the state’s residents have died from the disease, according to data from the Alabama Department of Public Health’s coronavirus dashboard. The highly contagious omicron variant has fueled the recent rise in cases, although the more deadly delta variant is still hanging around in the state. In one bright note, doctors have reason to hope cases of the omicron variant will ease off in the next couple of weeks. The variant is so virulent that it essentially burns itself out, infecting so many people in a community that it has nowhere to go. Read more.

Who’s Getting COVID?

Alabama has averaged more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day for the past week, continuing to hit record highs as omicron and delta variants circulate at the same time. Whites and people 25 to 49 years old are most at risk of contracting COVID, and whites and people over 75 are most at risk of dying from it. Read more.

Some Parents Express Frustration With Schools’ Responses to the Omicron Surge

WBHM As students across Birmingham return to classrooms after the winter break, schools must contend with the COVID-19 omicron variant. With cases surging, some parents are frustrated with the response from school leaders. Read more.

Spreading Like Wildfire: Alabama’s COVID New-Case Numbers Set All-Time Records

On the final day of November, the 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases stood at 283 per day in Alabama. What a difference a new variant makes. As the omicron variant of the virus has spread rapidly across the nation, the current 7-day average has surged to 8,044.71 new daily cases, which is more than 28 times the pre-omicron low point reached Nov. 30. It’s also a new record high for the pandemic and confirms the fears of public health officials that omicron is much more contagious than the delta variant that caused a surge last year, as well as the original virus that triggered the pandemic in early 2020. Read more.

State Health Officer Warns Alabama Is ‘Not in a Good Place’ Fighting the Omicron Variant

WBHM Alabama’s top doctor sounded the alarm Tuesday as the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread across Alabama leaving new record numbers in its wake. During a media briefing, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Alabama’s positivity rate is almost 39%. That means nearly four in 10 tests came back positive. “We, unfortunately, are not in a really good place right now,” he said. “We’re seeing the highest daily case numbers that we have seen since the pandemic began.” Read more.

Jefferson County Commission Kicks Staff Out of Meeting as COVID Rages Across the Community

UPDATED with request to avoid emergency departments for tests or minor symptoms. Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens opened the commission committee meeting Tuesday by sending department heads and staff out of the room to guard against the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19. “It's a reminder for those people that we need to continue to practice social distancing,” Stephens said after the meeting. The commission president cited reports that cloth face masks are not the most effective in protecting against the spread of the omicron variant. “You need to do a KN95 or an N95 mask, if indeed you feel at risk,” Stephens said. “The main thing to do is to practice your social distancing because if the masks are proved ineffective, the only other tool we have if we're going to come to work is … either management needs to supply everyone with KN95 or N95 masks or we need to practice social distancing. “I pretty much told staff through the county manager that they should be on Zoom or be virtual,” he said, “and let the commission tend to the business of the commission.” Stephens’ comments came as omicron rages across the state. Alabama reached a record 38.5% positivity rate Tuesday as another 7,562 new cases were reported and 41 new deaths. Jefferson County contributed 1,501 of those cases and four of the deaths, and the positivity rate broke 40% for the first time. In total, 921,175  Alabamians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Every county in the state is classified as being at high risk of community transmission of the virus. Read more. Also read: COVID Surge Continues, Could Peak in Mid- to Late-January

COVID Surge Continues, Could Peak in Mid- to Late-January

Alabama logged 16,999 new cases of coronavirus over the weekend and reached a positivity rate of 36.4%. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the state has had 913,613 total cases of COVID-19. However, no new deaths were reported over the weekend. So far 16,455 Alabamians have died from the virus. Jefferson County’s positivity rate, the rate of COVID tests that returned a positive result, is now a record 39.2%. Another 3,465 new cases of COVID were reported over the weekend, bringing the county’s total cases since the pandemic began to 130,048. Read more.

They Were the Pandemic’s Perfect Victims

With the advent of COVID-19, nearly 18,000 more dialysis patients died in 2020 than would have been expected based on previous years. That staggering toll represents an increase of nearly 20% from 2019, when more than 96,000 patients on dialysis died, according to federal data released this month.

The loss led to an unprecedented outcome: The nation’s dialysis population shrank, the first decline since the U.S. began keeping detailed numbers nearly a half century ago.

They were COVID-19’s perfect victims.

Emergency Departments Are Being Flooded With COVID Patients

UPDATE — Alabama once again added more than 8,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day on Friday, and the positivity rate rose to an all-time high of 34.6%. Alabama has had 896,614 COVID cases reported since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to an Alabama Department of Public Health update late Friday afternoon, 8,051 more cases than Thursday. Jefferson County added 1,810 of those cases and hit a positivity rate, the rate of COVID tests that returned a positive result, of 37.4%. Every county in the state is now at high risk for transmission of the virus. Emergency rooms are being overrun with record numbers of patients, and a UAB doctor on Wednesday urged people not to go to emergency rooms for COVID-19 tests or treatment for minor symptoms. Dr. Bobby Lewis, vice chair of clinical operations for UAB Emergency Medicine, said UAB and other hospitals in the city have for the past few days been seeing about a third more patients than they usually would on a heavy day. The hospital already has appropriated additional spaces to handle the emergency department overload and it has brought on more doctors, nurses and other personnel to handle the surge, Lewis said. Hospital officials are considering converting more space to treatment areas, such as setting up tents. “We are approaching the point of being overwhelmed,” Lewis said. Read more.