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Safer Apart Order Extended to May 31

Gov. Kay Ivey today extended the current coronavirus public health order, which now will be in effect until May 31. However, the current order, called “Safer Apart,” includes no restrictions on activities of businesses or consumers. Rather, it encourages individuals, employers, and businesses and institutions to follow CDC-recommended public safety practices, such as social distancing and wearing of masks. The only regulations still in place apply to institutions such as senior citizen centers, nursing homes and hospitals, along with an order that infected people must self-quarantine. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

COVID-19 Average Continues Slow Decline in Alabama

The daily average number of new COVID-19 cases in Alabama continued a slow but steady decline Friday as the state Department of Health reported 409 cases. There have been 527,922 cases over the course of the pandemic, with the state averaging 349 new cases a day over the past week. That is the lowest average since April 20, when the figure stood at 335 cases a day. The averages were 392 cases a day one week ago and 456 a day on this date in March. There were nine new deaths on Friday's COVID dashboard, raising the total for the pandemic to 10,896. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

COVID Is Killing More Seniors, but It Is Infecting More Young People

Older people account for the vast majority of COVID-19 deaths in Alabama, although they represent fewer than one in five cases of the disease, according to reports this week by the state Department of Public Health. Individuals who are 65 and older represented 16.8% of the coronavirus cases in the state but 78.4% of the deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020, ADPH said in a report Wednesday. Those from 25 to 49 years old accounted for 37.6% of the cases but only 4.4% of the deaths, while individuals from 50 to 64 years old made up 21.5% of the cases and 17% of the deaths. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

COVID-19 Case Count Drifts Higher in Alabama

Alabama's COVID-19 case count continued to drift slightly higher Tuesday, with the state Department of Public Health reporting 359 cases for the latest 24-hour period. The state averaged 393 new cases a day over the past week. That is up from the average of 335 cases one week ago but substantially lower than the count of 426 cases a day a month ago on March 27. There have been 526,707 cases in the state since the pandemic began in March 2020. There were two new deaths listed in the daily coronvirus update, for an overall total of 10,854. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

ADPH Reports Another Slight Rise in Daily COVID-19 Average

The weekly average number of new cases of COVID-19 in Alabama climbed slightly in Friday's report by the state Department of Public Health, reaching the highest level since the beginning of this month. ADPH reported 429 new cases, bringing the total number since the pandemic began to 525,477. The daily average over the past week rose by one to 392. The average stood at 382 at the end of March and dropped to as low as 311 on April 15 before beginning a slow rise. There were 16 new deaths in Friday's report, raising the total to 10,840. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Alabama’s COVID Numbers Take a Turn for the Worse

Just two weeks after Gov. Kay Ivey relaxed many mandates and restrictions concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, Alabama’s new cases, deaths and hospitalizations have reversed their previous downward trends. In BirminghamWatch’s periodic analysis of COVID data, the 7-day moving average of new cases reported by the Alabama Department of Public Health is up to 391.14 per day. That average has been adjusted by BirminghamWatch to account for a backlog of 1,150 cases reported Tuesday by health agencies — the second such backlog in two weeks. The backlogged cases date from October to last week, as did the previous batch on April 13. The adjusted average compares to 305 cases per day a week prior, an increase of 28.2%. The longer-term 14-day average, also adjusted because of the backlog, is now at 348.07 new cases per day, up from 298.93 seven days beforehand, a rise of 16.4%. Read more.

by Robert Carter

Past And Present Collide As Community Health Centers Strive To Close Rural Care Gaps In The Pandemic

In the 1960s, health care for Black residents in rural Mississippi was practically non-existent. While some hospitals served Black patients, they struggled to stay afloat; most options were segregated. During the height of the civil rights movement, young Black doctors decided to launch a movement of their own. “Mississippi was third-world and was so bad and so separated. The community health center movement was the conduit for physicians all over this country who believed that all people have a right to health care,” said Dr. Robert Smith. In 1965, Smith co-founded the Delta Health Center, the country’s first rural community health center, in Mound Bayou, a small town tucked away into the heart of the Mississippi Delta. The center became a national model and is now one of nearly 1,400 across the country. They are a key resource across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, where about 2 in 5 Americans live in rural areas. These rural health care providers remain under-resourced and the COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified existing challenges, like lack of broadband access and limited public transportation. For much of the vaccine rollout, those barriers have made it difficult for providers, like community health centers, to get shots in the arms of their patients. As vaccine demand slows and coronavirus infection rates start to increase, state and federal officials are turning to these health centers to fulfill the mission of making the vaccine available to all Americans. In April, the Biden administration invested $6 billion in community health centers as part of a plan to increase access and awareness in the hardest-hit communities. Read more.

by Shalina Chatlahi, Gulf States Newsroom
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