In a press conference Friday afternoon Governor Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency in Alabama due to the potential spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The governor also canceled school for two and a half weeks, starting at the end of the day on Wednesday, March 18.
Following Ivey speaking at the press conference, Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris announced that the Yellowhammer State has four new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, for a total of five.
One of the new confirmed cases is in Jefferson County, Harris did not have details on the other three, which he’d just been informed about before he walked onto the stage.
Harris relayed to the audience that the latest consensus was that people were best served by employing a “six foot rule” in public.
More simply, people should stay at least six feet away from strangers for the next few weeks.
“I don’t think people need to be frightened,” he added, assuring the public that as long as proper precautions are taken it is still possible to function more or less normally.
The target date to re-open schools is Monday, April 6, per State Superintendent of Education Eric Mackey, who also appeared at the press conference.
That date is subject to change.
Mackey told the public that his department was working with districts across the state, especially in impoverished areas, to come up with a plan for providing meals to students who qualify for free lunch during the two-week break called for by Ivey.
Harris, who runs the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), said that Alabamians should expect an increase in diagnosed cases as testing ramps up.
According to Harris, an increased number of diagnosed patients after increased testing is “what other countries have seen.”
The patient diagnosed in Jefferson County had recently returned from international travel, which was the only detail provided to the public.
Alabama’s first patient to be a confirmed coronavirus victim was announced earlier in the day. That person is a civilian employee at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base who recently returned from out-of-state travel, per media reports Friday afternoon.
“We want all state employees to continue to come in to work,” Ivey said near the end of the conference.
Harris promised more updates as more information was available.
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Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
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