7. UAB is working on a coronavirus treatment
- The National Institution of Health-sponsored global clinical trials will now include the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
- A professor of at UAB in the Division of Infectious Disease said that the drug “Remdesivir worked well in the test tube and animal models against a close relative of COVID-19.” This trial will be conducted in 75 different sites globally.
6. Democrats are mad illegals aren’t getting stimulus funds
- In the stimulus package passed by the U.S. Senate, American citizens who file taxes individually are to receive $1,200 and those who file jointly will receive $2,400, but any nonresident immigrants in the country don’t qualify for benefits from the stimulus package.
- U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to Twitter to voice her displeasure with the stimulus package, saying, “What Trump + Senate GOP have done is hold hospitals, working people, and the vulnerable hostage so they could get in $500 billion (that will be leveraged into $4T) in corporate welfare.”
5. Cam Ward still wants to see prison reform
- With the coronavirus bringing meetings in the Alabama legislature to a halt, it may be more difficult to get business done in the state, but State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) still wants to see prison reform in this legislative session.
- Ward has described the issues with the prison system as “urgent,” and he’s said that we “could see a situation where we come back in the first of May” and working until May 18. He added “a lot of the bills are still in position that if we came in, they’re one step closer to passing. I think we can do it still.”
4. Trump is changing the rules
- President Donald Trump said that the social distancing guidelines could change based on a county’s risk of the coronavirus. In a letter sent to governors, Trump said, “There is still a long battle ahead, but our efforts are already paying dividends.”
- Trump also said that some of this will rely on expanding testing, which will “enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus.”
3. Many believe Alabama needs to shelter-in-place
- With 500+ coronavirus cases and growing, Governor Kay Ivey has said that there are no current plans for a shelter-in-place order across the state, but now Democrats like Alabama House of Representatives Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville) are calling for a statewide lockdown.
- State Representative Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) tweeted, “If nothing is done, someone will lose his or her life not because of the virus, but because our hospitals will not have the resources available to save them.” U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) has said that state officials need to enact “stringent measures” to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
2. Unemployment has skyrocketed in Alabama
- Since Sunday, 48,191 people in Alabama have filed for unemployment, and by comparison, only 5,819 Alabamians filed for unemployment in all of February.
- Even during the worst week of the 2007-2009 recession, Alabama saw 20,894 unemployment claims filed, and the United States Department of Labor has reported 3.28 million unemployment claims last week.
1. Schools closed for the rest of the school year but instruction isn’t over
- Governor Kay Ivey has announced that with the coronavirus continuing to spread throughout the state, K-12 schools need to come up with a plan for “alternative methods of instruction as established by the State Superintendent of Education” by April 6 to finish out the school year.
- Not going back to the classroom had already been recommended by Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, who said that the coronavirus is a “serious situation and calls for serious measures,” and there are several other states in the country that have opted to keep schools closed for the remainder of the academic year.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.