November 13, 2020 - The Day We Knew Would Come

The Day We Knew Would Come

November 13, 2020

Today is the day we knew would come. As we watched the Midwest and Mountain West struggle against the onslaught of COVID’s third wave, Alabama’s cases steadily grew. Today, they exploded, as 2,980 new cases (incl. 718 probables) shattered the prior record. Aside from one day in September and two in October, when high case counts were skewed by data dumps, the previous single-day high for our State was 2,212 cases, set on July 9. We beat that number by 768 cases today - and the increase can be seen across the State.

ADPH also reported 19,285 tests, but this number covers two days (-0- tests recorded yesterday). Therefore, our positivity rate for the last 2 days is 25.8%, and the 7-day rolling average is between 23% and 27%, depending on the tracking service. There were also 18 more deaths reported today.

Hospitalizations, which generally lag new cases by several days, actually remained level - 1,177 confirmed patients in 100 reporting hospitals, compared with 1,233 patients in 106 hospitals yesterday. After 3 straight days of 2,000+ cases statewide, including 2,980 today, we should expect hospitalizations to resume their climb in coming days.

Alabama’s worsening infection rate is reflected in the weekly COVID case report issued this morning by the ADPH. This report, which was assembled from 117 self-reporting school districts and 3 charter schools, reveals that 1,592 students, teachers and staff became infected last week, an increase of over 500 cases compared to the prior week. This report follows the Alabama State Department of Education’s announcement that 50 employees have been placed in quarantine in the last two weeks due to the virus. 

Nationally, the third wave is washing over nearly every part of the United States. Case counts are trending upward in 46 states, and at least 21 states have set new single-day records in recent days. On Thursday, more than 160,000 cases were recorded nationwide. We broke that record today with 175,000 more cases by 5:00 pm (central), with more states left to report. This is the 4th new record in the last 5 days. 

According to the NY Times, more than 130 Secret Service officers who help protect the President when he travels, have recently been ordered to isolate or quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus or having close contact with infected co-workers. The spread of the virus, which has sidelined more than 10% of the agency’s core security team, is linked to the series of campaign rallies that President Trump held in the weeks before the election.

Interviewed by CBS this morning, Dr. Fauci repeated his pleas to Americans to take this virus seriously. “If we do the things that are simple public health measures, that soaring will level and start to come down,” he said. “You add that to the help of a vaccine, we can turn this around. It is not futile.”  The totals:

10/31 - 1789

11/1 -   1700

11/2  -    907

11/3  -  1037

11/4 -   1848

11/5 -   1381

11/6 -   1556

11/7 -   1768

11/8 -   1205

11/9 -   1190

11/10 - 1720

11/11 - 2070

11/12-  2000

11/13 - 2980

Jefferson County set its own individual record today, recording 451 new cases (incl 41 probables). Madison County fell just short of a new record with 196 cases. Shelby County also set a new individual record with 157 cases. So did Cullman County with 142 cases. Tuscaloosa (126); Morgan (113); and Etowah (100) counties also exceeded 100 cases each. Only 2 counties (Russell and Tuscaloosa) now have 14-day positivity rates under 15%, while 46 counties exceed 20% and 13 counties exceed 30%.