The rate of new COVID-19 cases continued to rise in Alabama over the last week, while the rate of new hospitalizations stayed steady and the percentage of tests coming back positive began to drop.
Over the last week, 1,104 Alabamians per day were confirmed to have a case of the COVID-19, up 12% from the 972 per day the state was averaging on October 30 when Yellowhammer News last provided a coronavirus numbers update.
Hospitals in Alabama admitted 121 patients per day over the last seven days, largely unchanged from the 122 per day they were admitting a week ago.
Yellowhammer used numbers from coronavirus statistics hub BamaTracker for this report. BamaTracker collects, graphs and makes easily accessible the coronavirus data provided by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Most health officials have maintained that a surge in cases is followed by an increase in hospitalizations around two weeks later, and past virus statistics have given evidence to that theory, but Alabama appears to currently be bucking that rule-of-thumb.
Yellowhammer is referencing a new case as one confirmed by a molecular-based PCR test examined in a laboratory. When including rapid-tests and a few other instances – what ADPH calls “probable cases” – the average jumps to 1,460 per day.
The daily rate of new coronavirus cases has been rising for a month, even as the state has been providing roughly the same number of tests per day over that time.
There are 999 Alabamians in the hospital with a case of COVID-19 as of Thursday, the last time the confirmed hospitalization number was updated. That number is up only slightly from the 970 patients a week ago but still much higher than the 779 hospitalized coronavirus patients on October 6, one month ago.
In news that will be welcomed by healthcare experts, the percentage of COVID-19 tests administered over the last two weeks coming positive is down two percentage points.
Conversely, 20.52% of the state’s tests are still coming back positive for coronavirus, well above the 1%-5% needed for the virus to be considered contained.
In the last week, 15 Alabamians with a case of the coronavirus have died each day, up from the rate of nine per day who were perishing on October 30.
The state’s total death toll passed 3,000 in the last week and currently sits at 3,049 with another 210 listed as “probable” but not yet confirmed to be COVID-19 related by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Amid the mixed news presented by the coronavirus numbers this week, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey chose to extend the state’s mask mandate until December 11.
Unlike the previous few mask order extensions, Ivey relaxed some of the other restrictions in the state’s Safer-at-Home order, such as limits on the number of customers retailers can let inside.
The governor appeared to indicate this week’s extension was the last or near the last extension she was going to make of the mandate, which has drawn criticism from some in her own party.
At the same press conference in which the governor extended the mask mandate, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris provided an update on coronavirus vaccines.
He said he expected two companies, Pfizer and Moderna, to submit their products to the FDA soon and that they would likely be ready by the end of the year.
“Work continues steadily on the vaccine,” he offered.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.