Alabama outlook worsening amid state reopening
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With Alabama’s coronavirus caseload worsening while casinos, churches and more reopen, the state’s most recognizable person had some stern words about bringing COVID19 under control.
“You need to be staying 6 feet away from me, and haven’t I told you you have to wear a mask when you’re in this building?” University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, himself wearing a mask emblazoned with “Roll Tide,” scolded the school’s elephant mascot in a video released as the state reopened more.
Perhaps Saban’s rant — which tied the prospects of fall football to disease control in a football-crazy state — will be the thing that makes people see a need for renewed vigilance in a place where life is largely back to normal despite a deepening health crisis.
From the Gulf Coast to the lush Tennessee Valley, Alabama’s political leaders and health experts are struggling to make many residents see the continued need for social distancing, crowd limitations and wearing masks after Gov. Kay Ivey reopened much of the economy.
Cases are on the increase, but health officials say it’s impossible to determine whether the rise is linked to additional testing or an actual increase in disease. Yet state statistics also show hospitalizations are up since early April, which has some health officials worried.
The situation in Alabama has become worse over the past 14 days, according to an AP analysis of testing data from The COVID Tracking Project. New daily cases have risen to 307 from 268, and the rate of daily tests coming back positive has increased from 6.7% to 7.5%. The AP used seven-day rolling averages to account for daily variability in the testing data. Data includes counts through Thursday.
In Jefferson County, the state’s most populous area with nearly 660,000 residents, officials cited increasing cases and hospitalizations Friday in announcing more stringent rules than those enacted by Ivey.
The Republican governor, like President Donald Trump, hasn’t modeled recommended behavior by regularly appearing publicly in a mask. But she has urged residents to do what’s necessary to stem the spread of the disease while saying a vaccine could someday be created “right here in sweet home Alabama.”