The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 1,953 new coronavirus cases in the state on Friday, culminating in another record week for virus cases in Alabama. The state added more new cases and reported more deaths from the virus in the past seven days than in any week since the pandemic began.
Alabama not only broke virus records this week, it smashed them, and it did so frequently.
The state has now peaked on major coronavirus metrics every day for the past seven days, including 7-day averages for new cases, hospitalizations, and reported deaths, a record that has been kept for months.
The 1,953 cases added on Friday are the second-highest single-day case count in history. This marks the tenth consecutive day that the state has added at least 1,100 cases daily.
The 7-day average for new cases hit a new record of 1,745.6 on Friday. The record for that measure was 1,283.4 cases per day, set on July 9. The state this week repeatedly set and broke that record, reaching new highs in five of the seven days. By Friday, the moving average had risen 43 percent in just one week.
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The state added more than 12,200 new cases from July 11-17, by far the highest number in a week. The previous record, set the week before, was 8,500.
Three Alabama counties added more than 1,000 cases this week, led by Jefferson, home of Birmingham. Jefferson added nearly 1,900 cases during that time, the most any county has added in a week. Madison County, home of Huntsville, also set its own record, adding nearly 1,200 cases, and Mobile County added nearly 1,100. P
Before this week, Jefferson, the state’s most populous county, was the only one to report more than 1,000 cases in a single week.
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Coronavirus deaths also hit new highs this week. Alabama’s 7-day average of reported daily deaths exceeded 20 for the first time on Wednesday. The new record for average daily reported deaths is 22.6, set Thursday. On Friday, the average was 22.
ADPH reported 155 virus deaths in Alabama in the week ending July 17, breaking the previous record of 113 set in April.
Before this week, the state had only reported 100 deaths in a week twice; both instances occurred months later.
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Due to the way deaths are reported, there is often a delay between when someone dies of the virus and when ADPH reports death. Because of that, many of the deaths reported this week could have occurred earlier.
Virus hospitalizations also hit new highs this week. On Friday, the state reported that 1,416 patients are currently being treated for the virus in Alabama hospitals. The 7-day average for current COVID-19 hospitalizations rose to 1,299, a new record. Alabama broke that record every day this week.
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Either way you look at it, this was Alabama’s worst week in terms of coronaviruses. But the state is not alone. Many southern states are adding new cases even faster than Alabama.
According to the CDC, as of July 16, the last day for which data was available, Florida had added more than 77,000 new cases in seven days, the most in the country, and more than what Alabama has seen in total. Florida added 363 cases per 100,000 people in that week, the highest rate of any southern state.
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For reference, Alabama’s 12,122 new cases during that time reach 248 cases per 100,000 people. That is the fourth highest among the southern states.
Louisiana added nearly 14,000 new cases during those seven days, at a rate of 300 new cases per 100,000. South Carolina was third, with 13,300 new cases, or 262 in 100,000.
Got an idea for a Alabama data story? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected]and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.
