In a week where headlines mostly avoided COVID-19, Alabama added nearly 2,500 cases of the virus - the second highest weekly total since the start of the pandemic. But deaths due to the virus seem to be flattening out, and new hospitalizations reached a new low this week.
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, the state confirmed 2,485 new cases of the virus between Saturday, May 30 and Friday, June 5 at 10 a.m. ADPH announced this week that it would begin reporting results only once a day, at 10 a.m., due to “a large increase in volume” of the number of tests being conducted.
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The 2,485 new case total is well below that of the previous week, when the state added more than 3,100 new cases, but still the second highest so far. The state performed just over 30,000 tests this week, which is roughly on par with the weekly testing totals of the past few weeks, and lower than the totals from the previous two weeks. ADPH announced last week that it had accidentally included antibody tests in its ‘tests performed’ tally, and planned to remove them last weekend.
Overall, new cases in Alabama seem to be on the decline, if only over the last week or so. The 7-day average for new cases in the state fell below 400 for the first time since May 25 this week. The 7-day average has gone down each of the last four days.
Related: Some of Alabama’s worst coronavirus hot spots have cooled off
As of Friday at 10 a.m., the 7-day average was sitting at 355 cases per day - the lowest it’s been since May 23.
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It’s too early to tell if cases are truly on the decline, especially considering the recent easing of social distancing guidelines and an increase in large, public gatherings. The state has seen a bevy of high school graduations - Birmingham city schools cancelled its remaining graduations after a student attending Woodlawn High School’s graduation tested positive for the virus. There have also been widespread protests throughout the state advocating for racial justice following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.
Related: Outbreak Alabama: Protesting during a pandemic
The state of testing and data reporting in Alabama also raises questions. It’s unclear if the state’s move to reporting data only once a day will affect past or future numbers, and data on tests has also been spotty.
But taking the data at face value, the numbers look to be trending down, even as last week represented the peak of the virus’s curve so far in Alabama.
Hospitalizations are also down this week in Alabama. The 7-day average for new hospitalizations due to the virus reached a new low on Friday, according to data from ADPH. The 7-day average fell to 21.3 hospitalizations per day, the lowest mark since data has been available.
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Virus deaths in Alabama peaked at over 100 per week about three weeks ago, but haven’t risen above 68 a week since then. This week, 67 people died of the virus here, bringing the all-time total to 672 deaths.
Most of Alabama’s deaths have been among elderly people - more than 80 percent were 65 years old or older. And according to data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, more than half of the state’s coronavirus deaths as of May 31 were in nursing homes. As of the end of May, 335 nursing home residents and 14 employees have died of the virus. There were 631 total deaths by the end of May.
AL.com’s Amy Yurkanin wrote an explainer this week detailing how you can search Alabama nursing homes to see their coronavirus status.
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While much of the state seems to be seeing a slowing of new cases, many counties are still seeing large increases. Several Black Belt and other rural counties saw the state’s highest per capita case increases over the past week.
Lowndes County, a Black Belt county which has had the highest per capita case count in the state over the last several weeks, is still seeing plenty of new cases. The county is home to fewer than 10,000 people, but added 44 new cases this week. It has added at least 32 cases in five of the last six weeks.
Bullock County, also in the Black Belt, saw a rate of 31 new cases per 10,000 people over the last week. Hale, another Black Belt county, was third in the state, with 28 new cases per 10,000 people. Franklin County, in northwest Alabama, added 24.6 new cases per 10,000 people.
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Related: Several Alabama football players tested positive for the coronavirus
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.