Alabama reported 11,771 confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases late Sunday and 488 deaths. That’s an increase of three deaths and just 72 new cases, though case reporting can be spotty on the weekends. In the past two weeks, the case count in Alabama has risen by 4,105, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. Read more.
COVID-19 cases rose in Alabama by 326 Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 11,699. Two more deaths in Jefferson County brought the state’s toll to 485, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. Read more.
In the month before Alia Tunagur reached her 30th birthday, she easily could have questioned whether she would make it to that milestone. “To be honest,” she said, “I wouldn’t let my mind go there.” It was during that final month of her 29th year that Tunagur, a health care professional in Birmingham, battled the novel coronavirus. Born in Saudi Arabia, Tunagur celebrated her latest birthday on May 2 and continues to celebrate having successfully run the gauntlet known around the world as COVID-19. It is a sickness unlike any she had ever experienced. Tunagur remembers March 15, the first day she realized something was wrong “It was just different,” she said. “It was cold/flu-like but I was hypervigilant and overly concerned because I knew that I have a compromised immune system (because of an) autoimmune disorder.” Taking no chances, she isolated herself in the basement apartment at her parents’ house. Her sinuses were congested, her throat was sore, and she was exhausted despite having had a full night of sleep. “I had a feeling,” she said, “that things weren't normal.” Read more.
Alabama had 11,373 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus Friday night, 272 more cases than the day before, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. Ten people died of the disease Friday, bringing the state’s total deaths to 483. All but 21 of those people had one or more underlying health conditions, which puts people at a higher risk of death from the disease. Read more.
A recent survey by the Alabama Nursing Association shows that nurses on the frontlines of the COVID-19 battle have been concerned about a lack of personal protection equipment, their own health, taking the virus home to their families and having the needed time to spend with patients isolated from their loved ones. Others, furloughed by public health orders that stopped elective surgeries and procedures, worried about paying their bills and even their own health insurance. Read more.
Hurricane season starts June 1. That’s nothing new for those who live along the Gulf Coast, but what is new this year is that hurricane season will happen during the coronavirus pandemic. Read more.
Alabama had 11,101 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus Thursday night after hitting 10,000 cases on Monday. Of those cases, 2,899 were diagnosed in the past 14 days, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard. Deaths in the state have risen to 473, up 23 from a day before. In addition, 401 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday. Since the pandemic began, the virus has put 1,364 people in the hospital. Read more.
MONTGOMERY — A week after a public dispute between Gov. Kay Ivey and members of the Legislature about who should control about $1.8 billion in federal coronavirus relief money, the governor on Thursday sent lawmakers a detailed proposal for allocating most of it. The proposed expenditures include money for state agencies' COVID-19 expenses, businesses, nonprofits and faith-based groups and technology and infrastructure expenses. Read more.
Pricing and processing delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic have made a direct hit on the Alabama cattle and poultry industries. Those were more problems that farmers did not need in the wake of tariffs President Trump imposed on China in 2018 and the swath cut by Hurricane Michael on South Alabama farmlands last year. “A lot of different things have affected the farmers,” said state Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, himself a cattle farmer. About 600,000 people in Alabama are involved in the farming industry. That includes row crop, fruit and vegetable farmers as well as beef and poultry farmers. It’s unclear whether row crop farmers will take a major hit this year. Prices for crops are low now, according to agriculture officials, but a lot depends on whether that remains true through the fall harvest. On the produce side of the table, it appears the pandemic won’t have as big an impact on Alabama’ fruits and vegetables farmers, because most of those crops are sold direct to consumers. A new website, Sweet Grown Alabama, was launched recently to connect consumers with farmers and ease the process of buying and selling produce. Read more.
Republican members of Alabama’s Congressional delegation are none too pleased with a new coronavirus relief bill pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with some calling the $3 trillion plan “liberal la la land” and a “socialist wish list” that won’t pass the Senate. Pelosi has said she wants a vote Friday on the package that includes more than $900 billion to state and local governments, a second round of $1,200 checks to individuals and up to $6,000 per household, a $200 billion hazard pay fund for essential workers, health insurance subsidies for laid-off workers, $175 billion for rent and mortgage assistance, $25 billion to boost the U.S. Postal Service and an extension of $600-a-week supplemental unemployment benefits. “It’s nothing but a socialist wish list that has no chance of passing the Senate, so it’s an incredible waste of time,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, who represents east Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District. Read more.
