7. Hyundai plant resuming work
- In Montgomery, the Hyundai manufacturing plant is going to resume some work this week after being closed for over a month due to the coronavirus, starting with only one shift per day this week and then moving on to full operation next week.
- Employees are going to maintain a six-foot distance from each other, and there will be hand sanitizing stations and dividers between workspaces. They will be required to wear masks and have their temperature checked upon entering the plant.
6. Biden is silent, but his team is denying
- Former Vice President Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault by his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, and while he’s stayed quiet on the issue, his campaign said, “Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women.”
- Previously, when Biden was accused of making women uncomfortable with his physical interaction with them, he addressed the claims almost immediately. Now, there’s a former neighbor and a former acquaintance that have both said Reade disclosed the assault to them.
5. Small businesses can apply for loans again
- Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans can now be applied for through the Small Business Administration. PPP ran out of funds back on April 16, but Congress has since added more funding.
- In the first round of the program, 28,000 loans went to businesses in Alabama at a value of $4.9 billion. Governor Kay Ivey is encouraging businesses to apply for the program, saying that “small businesses are the lifeblood of our state’s economy.”
4. Another rise in unemployment
- The Alabama Department of Labor has reported that another 66,432 people have filed for unemployment, bringing the total to 344,381 since March 8, the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
- The counties that have had over 2,000 claims in the most recent week on record are Baldwin, Madison, Calhoun, Jefferson, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa.
3. Jones is telling people not to listen to Trump
- During a town hall, U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) told people that when it comes to the coronavirus, they shouldn’t “listen to politicians” or President Donald Trump “unless they are telling you something that has been repeated by the CDC or doctors or your public health officials.”
- Jones has also decided to support the narrative that Trump told people to drink bleach or inject disinfectant as a coronavirus treatment. On Twitter, Jones stated, “Let me translate what my very polite official side is saying here: Please do not ingest or inject bleach, even as a joke.”
2. New projections show an increase in deaths United States and Alabama
- The modelers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) have raised the projection of deaths in the United States from around 67,000 to 74,073 while raising Alabama’s projection from 306 to 327.
- The media reaction to this is predictable. Cries of “we are opening up too soon” and attempts to blame the White House for any deaths continue, but these same outlets have failed to acknowledge that the prediction of 2.2 million dead in the country and over 10,000 dead in Alabama were mitigated successfully with travel bans and stay-at-home orders.
1. Ivey will probably reopen the state on May 1
- Tuesday, Governor Kay Ivey is going to give an address and discuss how Alabama will reopen. It’s anticipated that she’s going to start reopening the state on May 1 after the stay-at-home order expires on April 30.
- Ivey’s office said that the address is just “to provide further updates on COVID-19,” but she previously said that she would decide on how to reopen the state by April 28.
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