Coronavirus

New Cases, Hospitalizations Drop, but COVID Death Rate Grows

BirminghamWatch,
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Coronavirus illustration. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Updates with comments from Scott Harris

The number of deaths from COVID-19 continued to grow while the number of new cases declined again in Friday’s daily report by the Alabama Department of Public Health.

ADPH reported 192 deaths, sending the state’s total for the pandemic to 13,048.

State Health Officer Scott Harris said the new figure included deaths from a couple of weeks ago.
“When the (death) numbers are reported to us, we have to investigate and verify to confirm the deaths,” Harris said.
He said there have been 8,600 “breakthrough” cases of COVID involving people who had the disease more than once, and 75 deaths of people in that group. He recommended even those who have had the virus to get vaccinated because it will lessen Covid infections.

Friday;s report included declines in the number of new cases and of COVID patients in Alabama hospitals.

The Health Department added 2,974 cases, bringing the total to 764,839 since the pandemic began in March 2020. There’s been an average of 3,360 new cases a day for the last seven days. Last Friday, the 7-day average stood at 3,780.

The number of COVID patients in Alabama hospitals stood at 2,223 on Thursday, down from 2,890 at the begining of this month but up from this year’s low of 166 patients on June 20.

The Alabama Hospital Association said his members have 1,562 intensive care beds and 1,580 patients requiring ICU care — 46% of those being COVID patients The association said 84% of those patients are unvaccinated.

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