July 16, 2020 - Record-Setting Day in Jefferson County
Record-Setting Day in Jefferson County
July 16, 2020
Alabama reported 2,021 cases today (incl. probables), exceeding 2,000 for the second time in a week. Only 8 states added more new cases today than Alabama. We are now 12th in terms of currently active cases, jumping over Louisiana. With more than 61,000 cases since March, Alabama is on track to double that number - hitting 120,000 cases - in just three weeks.
We also added 19 deaths today, a number that was exceeded by only 10 states. There were 206 new hospitalizations compared with 87 yesterday. Although ADPH failed to report current hospitalizations, UAB Hospital announced it is now taking care of a record 101 COVID-19 patients.
Rankings can be informative. Alabama ranks 24th in the United States in population. A measure of Alabama’s futile battle against COVID-19 is to examine our rank in per capita testing vs. per capita cases. This is essentially another way of comparing cumulative positivity rates - that is to say, the percentage of positive tests since the pandemic began. As of today, our 12,459 cases/1 MM population ranks #13 among the 50 U.S. states. Meanwhile, our 112,208 tests performed/1 MM population ranks #35. As a result, Alabama now has a higher cumulative positivity rate (10.93%) than all but AZ (17.85%), SC (11.83%), Mass.(11.36%) and Md. (11.03%). Since the cumulative rate takes into account the horrific numbers out of Mass. and Md. in the early days of the pandemic, our State will soon surpass those states and rise to third on the list. After all, our 7-day average has not been below 14% in 10 days.
Jefferson Co. is worth special recognition after seeing a record 360 cases, more than those in 17 states plus the District of Columbia. It’s shocking that Jefferson County recorded more cases today than Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington State or Connecticut.
I am highlighting this comparative data because Alabama easily gets lost in the narrative due to the horror stories coming out of Florida, Texas and Arizona. There once was a time when we loved to say, “Thank God for Mississippi.” We can’t say that anymore, although Mississippi remains close on our tail. Now, for the 14-day totals:
7/3 - 1,754
7/4 - 997
7/5 - 1,091
7/6 - 925
7/7 - 907
7/8 - 1,110
7/9 - 2,212
7/10 - 1,334
7/11 - 1,402
7/12 - 1,640
7/13 - 1,958
7/14 - 1,710
7/15 - 1,817
7/16 - 2,021
In addition to Jefferson County, Mobile Co. saw more than 100 cases with 165.