Coronavirus

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

Illustration by CDC

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