October 15, 2020 - The Liberty Loan Parade
The Liberty Loan Parade
October 15, 2020
There is little doubt this pandemic has reached an inflection point, both nationally and in the State of Alabama. With several states yet to report, our country had over 65,000 daily cases today, which is the highest level since the end of July. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia are reporting more new cases than in mid-September. Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Montana and Colorado all set individual records for daily cases today. Wisconsin opened a 500-bed field hospital on its state fairgrounds outside Milwaukee.
In Alabama, our daily tally was 1,185 cases (incl. 271 probables), and our 7-day rolling average hit 1,027, ending 2 weeks of sub-1,000 daily averages. There were 7,853 tests reported, resulting in a one-day positivity rate of 15.1% and a 7-day average of 14.22%.
Yesterday’s confirmed statewide hospitalizations were revised upward as 2 more hospitals submitted late reports - instead of 834 patients (as indicated previously), there were 862 patients. That is a 23% increase over the number of patients in our hospitals just 3 weeks ago (703), although hospitalizations declined to 844 today (with 3 fewer hospitals reporting).
Potentially the most alarming number of all is the number of reported deaths - 41 yesterday and 50 more today (incl. 9 probables). 91 deaths is the second highest 2-day death total in our State since the pandemic began, exceeded only by 93 deaths in 2 days during late July. ADPH indicated that some of these deaths occurred weeks ago, which begs the question why we are only hearing about them now. Regardless, 2,756 Alabamians have now reportedly died of the deadly virus since March, and that is likely fewer than the actual number.
When the 1918 flu pandemic first appeared in early March of that year, it had the appearance of the seasonal flu, which gradually dissipated during the summer. From September through November, the death rate skyrocketed with the emergence of a second wave (195,000 Americans died in October alone). Many public health historians attribute the severity of the second wave in the U.S. to a huge rally in Philadelphia to celebrate the end of the war - the Liberty Loan Parade. In this political year, we cannot afford to ignore the lessons of history. The totals:
10/2 - 954
10/3 - 1682
10/4 - 789
10/5 - 544
10/6 - 764
10/7 - 941
10/8 - 557
10/9 - 1490
10/10- 1061
10/11 - 816
10/12 - 734
10/13 - 1117
10/14 - 784
10/15 - 1185
Jefferson led the way with 151 cases (incl. 19 probables). DeKalb has the highest 14-day positivity rate - 30.87%. The counties with the highest overall deaths since the pandemic began are Jefferson - 364; Mobile - 313; Montgomery - 195; Tuscaloosa - 130; Walker -91; and Madison - 88.