Alabama has averaged more than 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 a day for the past week, continuing to hit record highs as omicron and delta variants circulate at the same time. Whites and people 25 to 49 years old are most at risk of contracting COVID, and whites and people over 75 are most at risk of dying from it. Read more.
WBHM As students across Birmingham return to classrooms after the winter break, schools must contend with the COVID-19 omicron variant. With cases surging, some parents are frustrated with the response from school leaders. Read more.
On the final day of November, the 7-day average of new COVID-19 cases stood at 283 per day in Alabama. What a difference a new variant makes. As the omicron variant of the virus has spread rapidly across the nation, the current 7-day average has surged to 8,044.71 new daily cases, which is more than 28 times the pre-omicron low point reached Nov. 30. It’s also a new record high for the pandemic and confirms the fears of public health officials that omicron is much more contagious than the delta variant that caused a surge last year, as well as the original virus that triggered the pandemic in early 2020. Read more.
WBHM Alabama’s top doctor sounded the alarm Tuesday as the COVID-19 omicron variant continues to spread across Alabama leaving new record numbers in its wake. During a media briefing, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Alabama’s positivity rate is almost 39%. That means nearly four in 10 tests came back positive. “We, unfortunately, are not in a really good place right now,” he said. “We’re seeing the highest daily case numbers that we have seen since the pandemic began.” Read more.
UPDATED with request to avoid emergency departments for tests or minor symptoms. Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens opened the commission committee meeting Tuesday by sending department heads and staff out of the room to guard against the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19. “It's a reminder for those people that we need to continue to practice social distancing,” Stephens said after the meeting. The commission president cited reports that cloth face masks are not the most effective in protecting against the spread of the omicron variant. “You need to do a KN95 or an N95 mask, if indeed you feel at risk,” Stephens said. “The main thing to do is to practice your social distancing because if the masks are proved ineffective, the only other tool we have if we're going to come to work is … either management needs to supply everyone with KN95 or N95 masks or we need to practice social distancing. “I pretty much told staff through the county manager that they should be on Zoom or be virtual,” he said, “and let the commission tend to the business of the commission.” Stephens’ comments came as omicron rages across the state. Alabama reached a record 38.5% positivity rate Tuesday as another 7,562 new cases were reported and 41 new deaths. Jefferson County contributed 1,501 of those cases and four of the deaths, and the positivity rate broke 40% for the first time. In total, 921,175 Alabamians have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Every county in the state is classified as being at high risk of community transmission of the virus. Read more. Also read: COVID Surge Continues, Could Peak in Mid- to Late-January
Alabama logged 16,999 new cases of coronavirus over the weekend and reached a positivity rate of 36.4%. Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the state has had 913,613 total cases of COVID-19. However, no new deaths were reported over the weekend. So far 16,455 Alabamians have died from the virus. Jefferson County’s positivity rate, the rate of COVID tests that returned a positive result, is now a record 39.2%. Another 3,465 new cases of COVID were reported over the weekend, bringing the county’s total cases since the pandemic began to 130,048. Read more.
With the advent of COVID-19, nearly 18,000 more dialysis patients died in 2020 than would have been expected based on previous years. That staggering toll represents an increase of nearly 20% from 2019, when more than 96,000 patients on dialysis died, according to federal data released this month.
The loss led to an unprecedented outcome: The nation’s dialysis population shrank, the first decline since the U.S. began keeping detailed numbers nearly a half century ago.
They were COVID-19’s perfect victims.
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UPDATE — Alabama once again added more than 8,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day on Friday, and the positivity rate rose to an all-time high of 34.6%. Alabama has had 896,614 COVID cases reported since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to an Alabama Department of Public Health update late Friday afternoon, 8,051 more cases than Thursday. Jefferson County added 1,810 of those cases and hit a positivity rate, the rate of COVID tests that returned a positive result, of 37.4%. Every county in the state is now at high risk for transmission of the virus. Emergency rooms are being overrun with record numbers of patients, and a UAB doctor on Wednesday urged people not to go to emergency rooms for COVID-19 tests or treatment for minor symptoms. Dr. Bobby Lewis, vice chair of clinical operations for UAB Emergency Medicine, said UAB and other hospitals in the city have for the past few days been seeing about a third more patients than they usually would on a heavy day. The hospital already has appropriated additional spaces to handle the emergency department overload and it has brought on more doctors, nurses and other personnel to handle the surge, Lewis said. Hospital officials are considering converting more space to treatment areas, such as setting up tents. “We are approaching the point of being overwhelmed,” Lewis said. Read more.
Alabama reported 3,705 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the weekly average of new daily cases to 2,097, six times the average the state was experiencing at the start of the month. Read more.
Alabama as a whole is now classified as being at high risk of COVID transmission as cases skyrocket just days before Christmas. On Thursday, 2,060 new COVID cases were reported, giving the state a 1,173 7-day average for new cases, more than triple the daily average at the start of the month. The omicron variant has spurred COVID increases across the country. The variant is far more infectious than earlier strains but tends to cause milder illness, though it still can be extremely dangerous, particularly for people with other health conditions, and still carries the risk of inflicting sufferers with long COVID. Read more.
