UAB Health System plans to offer the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to adolescents beginning Thursday, pending a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food and Drug Administration expanded its emergency use authorization Monday to include children aged 12 to 15, following clinical trial results that found the Pfizer shot to be 100%
Alabama recorded 310 new cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths from the disease in Tuesday's update by the state Department of Public Health. There have been 531,404 cases of the coronavirus through the course of the pandemic. The number of deaths rose to 10,985 in Tuesday's daily report. Alabama hospitals have reported 49,362 COVID-19 inpatients since the pandemic began in March 2020. There were 362 patients from the coronavirus on Sunday. Read more.
Citing an increasing difficulty of business owners and employers to find workers to fill jobs, Gov. Kay Ivey today announced that Alabama will stop participating in all federally funded pandemic unemployment compensation programs effective June 19. “As Alabama’s economy continues its recovery, we are hearing from more and more business owners and employers that it is increasingly difficult to find workers to fill available jobs, even though job openings are abundant,” Ivey said in a press statement. Ivey said increased unemployment assistance was meant to be short-term help for people who couldn’t work during shutdowns related to the pandemic. But now, she believes the assistance is contributing to a labor shortage she said “is compromising the continuation of our economic recovery.” Read more.
Legislation is needed to ensure Alabama families and restaurant owners aren’t penalized on their state income taxes for credits and grants they receive under the federal American Rescue Plan Act. But with one day left in this year’s regular legislative session, a proposed bill on the matter isn’t likely to pass. That means it probably will have to wait until later in the year. The $1.9 trillion federal rescue plan’s enhanced child tax credit, earned income tax credit and child and dependent care tax credit will be worth about $1.7 billion to Alabama taxpayers, and payments will begin this summer, Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, said. Additionally, Alabama restaurants are expected to receive about $426 million in grants. If lawmakers don’t act, Alabamians could be taxed more than $100 million in state income taxes, he said. Read more.
Colonial Pipeline’s shutdown of its 5,500-mile pipeline Friday after a ransomware attack brought attention to the vulnerability of the energy infrastructure on which the country relies. The New York Times reported Sunday that it was unclear when the pipeline, which carries nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supplies, would reopen. This is not the first time the public’s attention has been turned to the things that can go wrong with the energy supply. In 2016, BirminghamWatch’s Hank Black wrote about the pipelines that run through the state and the Southeast:
Alabama Has Thousands of Miles of Gas and Oil Pipelines, Mostly Out of Sight and Mind
By Hank Black, September 23, 2016
The Colonial Pipeline gasoline spill in Shelby County was a wake-up call for the public and the government about just how critical oil and gas pipelines are to America’s energy supply needs, and how such an incident could impact the environment.
The Cahaba River Society said the spill “very narrowly missed” entering the river, less than a mile away. CRS field director Randy Haddock, PhD, said pipeline safety isn’t top-of-mind until a significant incident occurs. “As the acute phase of this event ends, we expect to start having conversations” among advocacy groups, industry, government, and others about how to prevent or limit damage when another incident occurs, Haddock said. Some experts say the 50-year average age of the nation’s pipelines is cause for concern.
Alabama has 6,748 miles of interstate pipeline, plus more than 57,000 miles of smaller main and service lines that distribute product from a transmission pipeline. By comparison, Mississippi has 10,450 miles of interstate pipe, and Arkansas has 7,212 miles. Read more.
Alabama added 314 new cases of COVID-19 and 20 deaths from the disease in Friday's daily updated by the state Department of Public Health. There have been 530,325 cases of the coronavirus in the state since the pandemic began in March 2020. The state averaged 343 new cases a day over the past week, compared to averages of 349 last Friday and 295 a day one month ago. ADPH has recocrded 10,966 deaths from the coronavirus. Read more.
The average percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 in Alabama declined this week to its lowest level in a year. The daily average rate of positivity dropped Wednesday to 5.67% and stood at 5.79% on Thursday, the Bama Tracker website reported. That was the lowest percentage since an average of 5.32% was reported on March 5, 2020. The 7-day average reached a high of 37.98% on Jan. 5. Health officials generally regard a rate of 5% or lower to be acceptable. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 436 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, plus another 129 cases that were reported on a delayed basis from previous days. The state has averaged 338 cases a day over the past week. Read more.
The average number of new cases of COVID-19 in Alabama has dropped by 50 a day over the past week, but it remains higher than the count of a month ago. Read more.
MONTGOMERY -- Alabama could reach herd immunity from COVID-19 by mid-summer, the state's top doctor told lawmakers on Wednesday. But it could take longer if the vaccination rate continues to decrease. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said around 70% of the state, or 3.5 million Alabamians, will need to either be fully vaccinated or have antibodies from previous infections in order for the state to reach a level of immunity that will stop significant spread of the disease. “If we reach herd immunity, what we’ll see is a dramatic decrease in cases, but it’s unlikely that it will ever completely disappear,” Harris said. The daily number of vaccinations has been steadily decreasing since the beginning of April, which Harris said could be attributed to several factors, chief among them being vaccine hesitancy. He said that has been evident in the African-American community as will as in white communities, especially in rural areas. Read more.
CEO Mike Warren said he thought he could fix Medicaid, but he was naive. Read more.
