Things have been relatively quiet in Alabama’s fight against coronavirus over the past few weeks, but the last four days have been a significant disappointing sign of death from the virus as the state prepares for colder weather.
The Alabama Department of Public Health reported more than 6,750 new virus cases in Alabama this week alone. It also reported a total of 103 deaths – the first time in more than a month that the state has reported at least 100 virus deaths a week.
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And 90 of those deaths were reported in the last four days alone, as the state has reported double-digit deaths in each of the last four days.
On Friday, the total coronavirus death-day average rose to 114.1, the highest since September. 1 Thursday. Before Thursday, that number had not risen to around 10 in two weeks.
A large number of confirmed deaths came to the shores of Alabama this week. Mobile and Baldwin counties saw a combined 24 virus deaths between Saturday, Oct. and Friday to Oct. 201.
There have been 2,653 virus deaths in the state since March. Due to the method of reporting deaths, there is an interval between when someone dies from the virus and when it is listed in state data. It was not immediately clear when the deaths were reported this week. The state reports deaths by date of death on its coronavirus dashboard, but it sometimes takes weeks for deaths to show up in charts, and has not yet set a date for the hundreds of deaths included in the ADPH’s accumulated total.
The ADPH reported a total of 6,767 new virus cases this week, including about 4,900 confirmed cases and 1,900 possible cases. That case total shows a slight increase compared to last week, but it is still down two weeks already.
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The state’s case load is relatively flat from Labor Day. A.D.P.H. According to Na, the end of September saw a slight surge in cases, at least partly due to the backlog of cases from private labs entering the system.
But the day-to-day average of the new daily cases has increased by about 100 cases since Labor Day alone. There were an average of 855 cases per day. As of Friday, it was 966.
About 1,500 new cases were reported in the state on Friday, after showing significantly lower numbers for most of the week.
About 12,000 new tests were also recorded in the state on Friday, a significant increase, and could indicate another backlog of data entering the system.
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The state’s positivity rate was 13.3 per cent on Friday and has hovered between 12 and 14 per cent in the last few weeks.
Hospital hospital admissions in the state have remained mostly flat over the past few weeks – although hospitals in Tuscaloosa and Ub Bern have increased this week. Statewide current virus hospitalization – daily average September. Not around 15 to 800 – but 816 current virus patients were reported in the state on Friday, the highest since September 10.
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Jefferson County – the state’s most populous county – has the highest current 7-day average of 103 new cases per day in the state. It is currently the only county with an average of more than 100 daily cases, and has also seen an almost sharp decline. 300 cases per day earlier this year. Jefferson’s 7-day average fell below 100 for the first time on Thursday before rising again on Friday.
720 cases have been reported against Jefferson this week.
Houston County, Dothan’s home in the far south-east of Alabama, is the state’s highest average-day average of 68 cases per day. Houston, however, filed more than 300 cases last Saturday as part of a data backlog.
Just south of Jefferson, Shelby County ranks third, with an average of 46 cases per day. Madison County, the home of Huntville, ranks fourth in 45 cases per day, followed by the University of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, with 42 cases per day.
Mobile and Montgomery counties, each taking a turn on different issues during the epidemic as the state’s hardest hit counties, have both cooled. The state currently has 33 cases of 7-day average day in mobile, which is 8 cases. Mobile, however, recorded 13 of the most confirmed virus deaths in any county this week.
Montgomery ranks 10th in the state with a 7-day average of 29 cases per day.
In the table below you can see how many cases each county has added this week:
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Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email to Ramsay Archibald [email protected], And follow him on Twitter RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories Here.
