Delta has pushed Alabama’s coronavirus case numbers higher than ever.
The 7-day average for new COVID-19 cases in Alabama is now higher than it’s ever been barring data errors. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, the state is currently averaging 4,705 new cases per day, passing the record set this January, when the winter surge peaked at 4,281 cases per day.
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The state has experienced a number of major data issues in recent weeks, artificially inflating the 7-day average over the past couple of days. But Alabama is past that data error now, and cases are still at record highs.
Meanwhile the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has started to level off slightly. The total number of people hospitalized with COVID in Alabama actually fell over the past seven days - the first time that’s happened since June, before the start of the delta surge.
Even so, Alabama’s hospitals are still in bad shape, especially its ICUs. Dr. Donald Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said the state has never used more ICU beds than it is using now, and as of yesterday more Alabamians were on ventilators than at any point since the pandemic began.
Hospitalizations have not yet broken the January record, though, so how can ICUs be worse? Because “the sickest of the sick are being hospitalized,” Williamson said.
A combination of vaccinations and monoclonal antibodies has meant many people have avoided serious illness and hospitalization during the current wave. But those who do get infected tend to have some of the worst outcomes, Williamson said.
Where are the new cases?
Within Alabama, the delta surge has moved north.
Early in July and August, the worst outbreaks in the state were in south Alabama, in Mobile, Baldwin and Houston counties. Now the virus is much more evenly spread throughout the state.
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There are still big outbreak in southern counties - Crenshaw County, in south Alabama - has the state’s highest 7-day average for new cases per 10,000 people, at 15.2. But Clay County, in central Alabama, is second with 14.5 new cases per 10,000 people per day, and several north and central Alabama counties are averaging at least 10 cases per 10,000 per day.
Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.