September 8, 2020 - Stand With Science
Stand With Science
September 8, 2020
On this, the first day after Labor Day, ADPH reported 633 cases (incl. 228 probables), 1 death and 4,172 tests. Over the last 7 days, the daily average for new cases is 856 and the daily average for tests is 4,461.Our weekly positivity rate stands at 17.89%. These numbers are probably affected by the long holiday weekend. There is more positive news on hospitalizations - only 778 current statewide hospital patients in 107 reporting hospitals - but, at 16 patients per 100K population, we remain in the top ten in that category in the country.
Auburn University recorded 588 new infections (577 students and 11 faculty/staff) at its main campus over the week ending September 6. That is in addition to 498 infections the prior week. UA System reported that the University of Alabama had 849 cases, UAB had 19 cases and UAH had 7 cases for the week ending September 3. In addition to our two flagship universities, other notables include Troy University - 123 new cases (week ending 9/4); Spring Hill College - 51 cases (week ending 9/4); Samford University - 80 cases (week ending 9/2); and Birmingham-Southern College - 16 cases (week ending 9/6).
Nine drug companies issued a joint pledge today that they would “stand with science” and not put forward a vaccine until it had been thoroughly vetted for safety and efficacy. Three of the companies that signed the pledge are testing their candidate vaccines in late-stage clinical trials in the United States: Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca (the other companies being BioNTech; GlaxoSmithKline; Johnson & Johnson; Merck; Novavax; and Sanofi), but only Pfizer said it could apply for emergency use authorization as early as October. Late last week, Moncef Slaoui, the top federal scientist assigned the task of expediting vaccine development, warned in an NPR interview that the chances of emergency approval in October are “very, very low”.
Here are the 14-day totals:
8/26 - 2,012
8/27 - 1,769
8/28 - 1,162
8/29 - 1,704
8/30 - 1,346
8/31 - 823
9/1 - 1,558
9/2 - 623
9/3 - 1,046
9/4 - 1,108
9/5 - 1,410
9/6 - 511
9/7 - 659
9/8 - 633
Jefferson County had 104 cases, followed by Tuscaloosa County with 94 cases.