Coronavirus
COVID Still Topping 2020 Numbers in Alabama, but Conditions Not as Bad as in 2021

Although many Alabamians seem to believe the pandemic is over, judging by the lack of masks being worn inside stores and other public buildings, the virus actually is affecting more Alabamians now than it did two years ago.
On Thursday, the average of new cases being reported daily in the state was 2,099, according to New York Times data. Not only is that a 4% increase from two weeks ago, it’s a 41% increase over the average number of new cases reported the week ending Sept. 1, 2020, when the average of new daily cases reported was 1,482.
But the most recent case numbers are at just less than half of what they were last year, when an average of 4,307 new cases had been reported daily in the week that ended Sept. 1.
The community levels of COVID are labeled as high in more than two-thirds of the counties, including all of the counties in the greater Birmingham area. Only 21 counties are not colored red on the Alabama Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard. Most of those are classified as having medium community levels of COVID, and three counties have low community levels of the virus.
The greatest increases in cases have been in Franklin, Cleburne, Coosa, Perry, Greene, Choctaw, all of which have more than doubled their average daily new cases compared to two weeks ago.
All but one county – Choctaw – are rated high for community transmission of the virus, a classification system that focuses more on how the cases are affecting hospitals.
The CDC recommends that everyone in areas with high community levels of COVID wear masks when indoors in public places. In areas with medium levels of the virus, CDC recommends people who are at greater risk of having severe complications from the virus wear masks indoors. It still recommends people get vaccinated and boosted, no matter what the current state of the virus in their area.
Health officials warn that case data is less reliable now and may significantly undercount infections because of the popularity of home test kits. Many people who test positive on a home kit do not seek medical help unless symptoms become troubling, and so their cases are never reported or counted.
They put more stock in hospitalization numbers. Statewide, 544 hospitalizations were reported Thursday, and 77% of the state’s hospital beds on average have been occupied in the past week, one percentage point more than the occupancy rate from two weeks ago, according to Johns Hopkins University. An average of 83% of ICU beds were occupied in the past week, the same percentage as the week before. Those are total occupancy rates, counting both COVID and non-COVID patients.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, 20,160 Alabamians have died from COVID, and the state is nearing a landmark 1.5 million cases, with 1,494,300 cases documented as of Sept. 1, ADPH reported. The state’s positivity rate, meaning the portion of tests conducted in which people had a positive diagnosis, was 19.4%.
In Jefferson County, the positivity rate was 17.8%, and the county Health Department reported a total of 215,530 cases and 2,418 deaths so far.
Here are numbers for each county, from the ADPH.
Autauga | 18125 | 223 | -32.1 | 21.9 | 158.5 |
Baldwin | 64672 | 699 | -23.5 | 21.7 | 192.8 |
Barbour | 6757 | 101 | -46.6 | 23.7 | 256.2 |
Bibb | 7394 | 105 | -29.5 | 15.5 | 356.9 |
Blount | 16597 | 253 | -46.9 | 18.4 | 103.7 |
Bullock | 2750 | 54 | -73.5 | 5.9 | 130.3 |
Butler | 5920 | 129 | -23 | 37.4 | 292.2 |
Calhoun | 36113 | 644 | -1.6 | 20.2 | 214.2 |
Chambers | 9870 | 167 | -50 | 18.9 | 140 |
Cherokee | 5888 | 87 | -30.7 | 26.8 | 197.8 |
Chilton | 12214 | 213 | -21.9 | 20.6 | 184.7 |
Choctaw | 2176 | 37 | 225 | 20 | 104.7 |
Clarke | 7954 | 104 | 0 | 21.7 | 193.2 |
Clay | 4675 | 85 | -37.5 | 10.6 | 190.7 |
Cleburne | 3903 | 70 | 54.5 | 21.6 | 113.6 |
Coffee | 15746 | 240 | -50.9 | 22.5 | 152.2 |
Colbert | 19152 | 266 | -34.3 | 31.3 | 297.8 |
Conecuh | 3305 | 72 | -8.3 | 36 | 185.6 |
Coosa | 3436 | 60 | -8.5 | 39.8 | 403.8 |
Covington | 10591 | 246 | -26 | 13.8 | 146.2 |
Crenshaw | 4319 | 102 | 18.2 | 32.2 | 285.1 |
Cullman | 28391 | 376 | 3.7 | 7.3 | 364.4 |
Dale | 15127 | 241 | -56.1 | 18.3 | 161.4 |
Dallas | 9944 | 254 | -42.9 | 6.2 | 133 |
DeKalb | 20905 | 336 | -42.4 | 21.4 | 147.9 |
Elmore | 27192 | 357 | -31.7 | 19.5 | 202 |
Escambia | 11391 | 175 | -51.7 | 28.9 | 115.8 |
Etowah | 31403 | 662 | -20.6 | 25.4 | 139.7 |
Fayette | 5420 | 97 | -20 | 25.3 | 197 |
Franklin | 10967 | 140 | 82.3 | 21.1 | 555.4 |
Geneva | 7328 | 168 | -42.6 | 20.4 | 132.5 |
Greene | 2109 | 51 | 54.5 | 20.5 | 212.8 |
Hale | 5336 | 109 | 20 | 30.6 | 286.3 |
Henry | 5317 | 78 | -49.2 | 18.6 | 180 |
Houston | 29771 | 521 | -46.5 | 24.1 | 172.6 |
Jackson | 16726 | 248 | -28.4 | 10.2 | 215.2 |
Jefferson | 215530 | 2418 | -11.9 | 17.8 | 280 |
Lamar | 4303 | 68 | 22.5 | 17.7 | 356 |
Lauderdale | 27767 | 405 | -38.2 | 21.6 | 247.4 |
Lawrence | 8700 | 168 | -32.4 | 26.4 | 280 |
Lee | 43516 | 349 | -21.2 | 24.6 | 196 |
Limestone | 28994 | 302 | -27.8 | 26.1 | 248.5 |
Lowndes | 3006 | 80 | -41.9 | 16.5 | 186.7 |
Macon | 4692 | 88 | 13.6 | 25.6 | 374.4 |
Madison | 105215 | 997 | -44.7 | 21 | 159.7 |
Marengo | 5737 | 111 | 10 | 17.3 | 117.4 |
Marion | 9217 | 154 | 18.8 | 18.6 | 276.1 |
Marshall | 30431 | 399 | 2.5 | 23 | 252.6 |
Mobile | 126699 | 1715 | -28.7 | 18.7 | 145.9 |
Monroe | 6099 | 81 | -17.3 | 15.2 | 210.2 |
Montgomery | 65574 | 985 | -32.8 | 10.5 | 182.5 |
Morgan | 42016 | 526 | -18 | 21.5 | 323.6 |
Perry | 2434 | 47 | -28.6 | 8.9 | 287.8 |
Pickens | 5856 | 108 | -34.6 | 15.4 | 171.8 |
Pike | 8612 | 137 | 5.1 | 14.6 | 188.1 |
Randolph | 5762 | 75 | -34.3 | 23 | 192 |
Russell | 11827 | 97 | -39 | 23.4 | 123.6 |
Shelby | 69590 | 468 | 4.5 | 26.2 | 271.9 |
St. Clair | 29287 | 428 | -5.8 | 26 | 303.1 |
Sumter | 2922 | 52 | -33.3 | 17.4 | 98.2 |
Talladega | 26039 | 382 | -18.9 | 21.9 | 337.6 |
Tallapoosa | 13261 | 246 | -12.8 | 29 | 338.9 |
Tuscaloosa | 64584 | 807 | -10 | 20.8 | 261.4 |
Walker | 21783 | 456 | -21.7 | 25.3 | 376.9 |
Washington | 4116 | 59 | -26.3 | 9.4 | 87.6 |
Wilcox | 3357 | 48 | -33.3 | 12.7 | 176.4 |
Winston | 8490 | 134 | -1.4 | 17.9 | 302 |