June 29, 2020 - Alabama: More cases Than 17 EU Countries Combined
Alabama: More cases Than 17 EU Countries Combined
June 29, 2020
ADPH announced this morning that it has added 1,734 new cases (incl. probables) to the 359 cases reported yesterday, for a total of 2,093 cases over the last two days. (As previously reported, a computer glitch is responsible for the reporting error yesterday). This follows four days, from last Wed. through Sat, when we saw an average of 996 cases per day. That means the State of Alabama has now reached another grim milestone - averaging more than 1,000 new cases per day (1,013 to be exact) for the last 6 days. This enormous spike - more than triple the daily average only three weeks ago - has caused ADPH to finally ask for, and receive, a five-member team from CDC to help with Alabama’s COVID response.
The all-important 7-day average positivity rate stands at 15.08%, which falls just between the positivity rate for Texas (14.94%) and the epicenter state of Florida (15.49%). Only Arizona, with its out-of-control 23.66% positivity rate, is higher.
Drilling down to the county level, I added the cases reported yesterday and today, then divided by two to reach an average per day. The result confirms that Jefferson Co. is the new epicenter of the State, averaging 225 cases per day on Saturday and Sunday. JeffCo’s 2-day average is more than double its 7-day average as of Friday. If you live in Alabama’s largest county and have neighbors who want to challenge the countywide mask requirement that went into effect today, I submit they forfeited the right to complain weeks ago when they failed to take this virus seriously.
Jefferson County is not alone, however. Mobile Co’s 2-day average is 43% higher than its 7-day average as of Friday. Madison’s 2-day average is 67% higher. Shelby’s 2-day average is 46% higher. And Baldwin County, like Jefferson, more than doubled its prior 7-day average when it posted an average 43 new cases each day over the weekend.
Unfortunately, these numbers have a tendency to cause eyes to glaze over. Here is another way to look at what our state is facing: the State of Alabama reported more cases today than the combined totals of Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Hungary, Greece, Croatia and the Czech Republic. These countries made the sacrifices necessary to allow their economies to reopen safely. And we must do the same. Wear a mask, for goodness sake!
Here are the 14-day totals, adjusted to average the totals for the last two days:
6/16 - 640
6/17 - 400
6/18 - 894
6/19 - 796
6/20 - 547
6/21 - 472
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