January 21, 2021
Today is the anniversary of the first official U.S. case of COVID-19 in Washington state. It has been a nightmarish year, but Alabama’s data today confirm what has become apparent during the last week - new daily cases have leveled off after dropping 40% over the last 2 weeks, and hospitalizations have continued to decline.
There were 2,881 cases (incl. 786 probables) and 7,587 tests, leading to a one-day positivity rate of 38% and a 7-day average between 28.4% and 30.6%. Alabama’s positivity rate now ranks 5th in the nation, a decline from the top spot for much of the first half of January. Also, for the first time in recent memory, Alabama’s 7-day average of daily cases (369 per 100K population) is actually below the national average (420).
As for hospitalizations, we now have 2,478 COVID patients in 109 hospitals statewide, an average of 22.7 patients per hospital. This is a dramatic 600+ patient decline in just 2 weeks, which confirms that the post-holiday surge has subsided. When ICU data were last updated on Monday, Alabama reported the highest average occupancy rate - 96% - which supports this observation by Don Williamson, head of Alabama Hospital Ass’n, made 2 days ago: “I think what’s happening is we’re keeping some people out of the hospital but the people who are now ending up in hospital tend to be much, much more ill than the patients who maybe had gotten into the hospital earlier.”
Alabama’s recent death rate also declined slightly, but it is still too high. It is 8.9 per 100K, which ranks 7th highest in the nation over the last week. There were 96 more deaths reported today, all of which occurred between November and January.
At a news briefing this morning, Dr. Scott Harris, head of ADPH, spoke in defense of the State’s embattled vaccine distribution program. According to Harris, 202,643 doses have been administered in Alabama, 70,000 more doses than the CDC has recorded. Dr. Harris’s announcement equates to just 4,135 doses per 100K population, which would rank 49th in the nation, according to the Washington Post, barely ahead of Nevada.
There is no ignoring the fact that Alabama’s vaccine distribution performance has been poor. Dr. Harris blamed the State’s problems on lack of supply, which is surely a contributing factor, but all the states have faced similar supply issues. Dr. Harris said ADPH will undertake additional measures to try and accelerate vaccinations, including: (i) county health departments will be instructed to start vaccinating all day every day until their supplies are exhausted; (ii) vaccine providers will be informed that they must get new supplies of vaccines into arms within a week or their supplies will be redirected; and (iii) the State has reached an agreement with Wal-Mart Pharmacy to initiate vaccines.
Still, Dr. Harris acknowledged that only 42% of the State’s supply of vaccines has been administered. When asked why 58% of the supply remains in storage, Harris responded that most of the unused supply is being withheld for use as 2nd doses.
This afternoon, the Biden administration announced a comprehensive plan to accelerate distribution. The plan includes triggering the Defense Production Act to increase vaccine and PPE production, expanding the role of pharmacies, recruiting and training more “vaccinators” (including perhaps the National Guard), getting FEMA involved, reimbursing cash-strapped states for costs incurred in the distribution process, and other ideas. Stay tuned as more details of this plan become public. The totals:
1/8 - 5057
1/9 - 4863
1/10 - 2750
1/11 - 2100
1/12 - 3848
1/13 - 3147
1/14 - 3588
1/15 - 2945
1/16 - 3153
1/17 - 1917
1/18 - 1430
1/19 - 2515
1/20 - 3112
1/21 - 2881
How many for jeff county today