COVID-19 in Alabama: Where are we with cases after Labor Day?

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Ahead of the Labor Day weekend, some state health experts were concerned the state would see a spike in cases if people didn’t follow social guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19.

So now that we’re two weeks after the holiday, the time it takes for symptoms to show up, WBRC checked in with state health leaders to see how the state fared.

According to Deputy State Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers with the Alabama Department of Public Health, the state did not see an increase in cases, which was great - but they still had concerns.

Landers said Labor Day was the first holiday with a mask order in place and she believed it made a difference.

“It looks as though the measures we have in place such as the face-covering mask order, the social distancing, the respiratory hygiene all together appear to have made a difference,” Dr. Landers explained.

Landers said even though 754 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 were added to the states total in one night, it was not unusual.

“If you look at the numbers over the last week or so they’ve been in that range. our hospitalizations remain relatively flat,” she said.

Some counties did see an uptick in cases, according to Landers, but statewide the numbers are down.

Landers said although the numbers looked decent, the state’s downward trend had slowed down a bit which made the state cautious.

“As we go into the respiratory season but we certainly would like to see these numbers flattening out or continuing to decline,” Landers said.

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