July 5, 2020 - The Rocket Ship Is Launched
The Rocket Ship Is Launched
July 5, 2020
I hope everyone had a safe and relaxing holiday. After 1,162 record-breaking cases on Thursday, I said we were sitting on the launchpad of a rocket ship. The next day, that rocket took off, as ADPH reported 1,754 new cases (incl. probables). On Saturday and Sunday, there were 2,088 more cases reported in our state, which amounts to a daily average of 1,281 new cases over the Fourth of July weekend. The positivity rate for the three days was 12.8% but curiously, the number of reported hospitalizations fell slightly to 800 as of Saturday (today’s hospitalizations will be released later).
Over the last week, Alabama joined fellow southern states - Florida, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas - in setting single-day records for COVID-19 cases. On Friday, Florida reported 11,458 cases, which broke New York’s record for most cases in a single day by any state in the U.S. Of the 11 states in the nation with the most cases last week, 9 of them (FL; TX; GA; NC; SC; AL; MS; TN; and LA) were a part of the Old South (California and Arizona being the others). Although Arkansas did not make the list for most cases, it did tie Arizona for the fastest rising infection rate in the nation during the month of June (Alabama was 4th fastest, according to an independent analysis).
Why is it that the South is having such a hard time? What do these states share in common? Early in this crisis, as states in the Northeast and Upper Midwest struggled to bring the virus under control, our Governors and other state-level leaders failed us by refusing to follow the advice of scientists and public health experts. Like President Trump, they communicated the message that we had nothing to worry about, that the virus would go away on its own. When I saw images of the President at Mount Rushmore whipping up another crowd with no masks, I was struck by his willingness - indeed, his eagerness - to jeopardize the lives of his followers to advance the cause of his own political self-preservation.
I am cautiously optimistic that some Southern leaders may be growing weary of this hubris. On Thursday, Texas became the latest state to require face coverings to be worn in public (with limited exceptions), joining N.C. and Virginia among southern states. A few others, including Alabama, require face coverings for employees in certain situations. We are now 4-5 months into this crisis and yet it feels like the battle to contain the disease is only just beginning in the South. We still have a depressingly long way to go to get to the other side, but it’s better to start late than never. For the latest 14-day totals:
6/22 - 433
6/23 - 643
6/24 - 967
6/25 - 1,142
6/26 - 977
6/27 - 900
6/28 - 1,046
6/29 - 1,047
6/30 - 870
7/1 - 917
7/2 - 1,162
7/3 - 1,754
7/4 - 997
7/5 - 1,091
Over the three-day weekend, Jefferson County led the way, averaging 230 cases per day. Madison Co. was second, averaging 109/ day. Mobile averaged 94/day and Montgomery 84/day. Tuscaloosa and Shelby averaged 60 and 58, respectively.