Science

Jeffco Commission Removes Cares Act Funding for Mission Alabama

Lashunda Scales removed Mission Alabama from the entities getting Cares Act funds on Thursday during in the final meeting of the Jefferson County Commission for 2020. All of the federal money allotted to help entities deal with the challenges of the novel coronavirus pandemic were to have been allotted prior to Dec. 30. The commission is not scheduled to have another meeting before then. During their committee meeting on Tuesday, commissioners talked about the primary contractors –- Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity (JCCEO) and Birmingham Urban League –- involved in assisting residents with utility bills and mortgages. Mission Alabama was also included on today’s meeting agenda to be in line for funds. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr

A Record 4,695 COVID-19 Cases Reported in Alabama

A record 4,695 new cases of COVID-19, plus 56 deaths from the disease, were reported Thursday by the Alabama Department of Public Health. The previous record number of new cases for a single day was 4,261 on Dec. 10. There have been 310,335 cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began in March. The cumulative number of deaths rose to 4,254.  A total of 29,559 people have been hospitalized in the state throughout the pandemic. There were 2,310 in hospitalis on Wednesday, down slightly from a record 2,351 on Monday.  Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

The New COVID-19 Vaccine Has Arrived, but the Virus Still Is Spreading Throughout Alabama

As the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccines make their way into hospitals across Alabama, the post-Thanksgiving rise in the state’s numbers continued in the past week, with the number of deaths attributed to the virus surpassing the 4,000 mark statewide. In BirminghamWatch’s weekly analysis of the trends in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, all but one of the measures of the pandemic’s effects again reached new highs. The 7-day moving average of cases reached 3,502.43 new cases per day, while the 14-day average stood at 3,419.71 per day, up more than 17% from seven days prior. All-time highs were set Sunday on both of those measures. Read more.

by Robert Carter

COVID-19 Counts Rise by 4,107 Cases, 74 Deaths in Alabama

The Alabama Department of Public Health on Thursday added 4,107 new cases and 74 deaths to the state's COVID-19 totals. There have been 305,640 cases and 4,198 deaths from the coronavirus in the state since the pandemc began in March. Over the past week, the state has averaged 3,636 new cases per day, up from an average of 2,290 for the week ending Dec. 1. The number of people hospitalized stood at a record 2,353 on Wednesday, according to the ADPH update. The daily number of COVID-19 patients has risen steadily this month, after standing at 1,592 on Dec. 1. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Hospital Officials Urge Against Holiday Gatherings in Open Letter to Alabamians

Birmingham-area hospital officials issued an open letter to the public Tuesday expressing concern about the growing number of COVID-19 patients being cared for in hospitals and the possibility those numbers will grow even more as the holidays progress. Read more.

by BirminghamWatch

Spend It All: JeffCo Commission Makes Sure to Leave No Cares Act Money on the Table

Jefferson County officials Tuesday took care to make sure all of the Cares Act money in their charge gets spent before the Dec. 30 deadline. The County Commission prepared to reallocate money entities couldn’t spend. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

UAB Hospital Receives First Delivery of Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine, Vaccinations Begin Thursday

UAB Hospital received its first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning. The hospital was given 10,725 doses out of the entire state’s total doses of 40,950. “It was astronomically more vaccine than we anticipated receiving,” said Dr. Sarah Nafziger, co-chair of UAB’s Emergency Management Committee. It’s “a very complex undertaking to get this up

by Miranda Fulmore, WBHM

Alabama’s COVID-19 Count Tops 300,000 Mark

The number of COVID-19 cases in Alabama has eclipsed the 300,000 mark, and the number of people in hospitals for the disease has risen to an all-time high, the state Department of Public Health reported Tuesday. The agency's dashboard showed 3,638 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the state's total to 301,533 since the pandemic began in March. ADPH said 538 of the new cases were from late lab reports covering the period of Sept. 29 to Dec. 12 -- leaving a total of 3,100 for the day. There were 22 additional deaths, for a total of 4,124 overall. Read more.

by Glenn Stephens

Providers Plan For Vaccinating Millions of Rural Alabamians

As Alabama receives its first allotment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, health officials anticipate challenges distributing the vaccine in rural communities. Read more.

by Mary Scott Hodgin, WBHM

Local COVID-19 Hospitalizations Spike as Alabama Faces Shortages in Number of Available Healthcare Workers

For the eighth day in a row, Alabama has logged more than 2,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations — and experts predict that number will continue to rise in the coming weeks.  Those record-high numbers mean hospital staff are being stretched thin, a problem made worse by the fact that many are getting sick themselves. And as Birmingham-area hospitals see their ICU beds fill with COVID-19 patients, many are starting to provide ICU-level care in other parts of the hospital, such as the emergency room or the post-anesthesia area. The state reported Monday that 2,286 people were hospitalized with the virus. That’s a sharp increase from just one month ago, when hospitalizations hovered around 1,200 patients. Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, says that number is likely to reach 2,500 by Jan. 1. Read more.

by Angela Fu