Chip Brownlee

More than 70,000 people filed a jobless claim to receive unemployment compensation last week, the Alabama Department of Labor says. That number is about eight-times the number of claims filed the week before when layoffs began hitting the state. Alabama Department of Labor spokesperson Tara Hutchison said Monday that some 74,056 people filed an initial … Continued

Over the last week, the number of COVID-19 cases in the state of Alabama grew faster than 43 other states and the District of Columbia. Only seven states saw their total confirmed cases increase more rapidly than Alabama, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. The number of positive cases confirmed by lab tests … Continued

The number of patients who have died from COVID-19 at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika since Friday has increased to six, the hospital said in a statement Sunday. Four of the patients were from Chambers County and two were from Lee County. The Alabama Department of Public Health is still investigating the deaths and … Continued

UPDATE: East Alabama Medical Center said Sunday that its death toll has increased to six. [visual-link-preview encoded=”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”] Five patients who were being treated for COVID-19 at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Alabama, have died since Friday, the hospital said in a statement Saturday. “Our hospital family expresses its collective condolences to the families of … Continued

Lee County, home to Auburn University, is one of Alabama’s hardest-hit counties. Lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus continue to rise there, and the county’s largest hospital is seeing a spike in hospitalizations. East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika has 20 patients hospitalized with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. There are 21 more hospitalized patients, whom … Continued

The number of COVID-19 cases in Alabama has unfortunately reached a bleak new milestone. There are at least 500 cases of the virus in 48 of the state’s 67 counties. The number has more than doubled in the past two days. At the end of the day Tuesday, the state had 242 cases of the … Continued

UPDATE: UAB now says there are 55 patients hospitalized at the hospital, as of Friday, March 27, 2020. The number dropped on Friday. There are at least 62 patients hospitalized at UAB Medical Center in Birmingham because of complications from COVID-19 as the number of cases has skyrocketed in the past 24 hours. UAB says … Continued

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey explained why she wouldn’t issue a “shelter-in-place” or “stay-at-home” order in Alabama. “Folks, we have no current plans to do so,” Ivey said. “We have seen other states in the country doing that as well as other countries. However, y’all, we are not California. We … Continued

More than 40,000 people filed a jobless claim to receive unemployment compensation in the first four days of this week, the Alabama Department of Labor says, more than quadrupling the number of claims filed last week when layoffs began hitting the state. Alabama Department of Labor spokesperson, Tara Hutchison, said Thursday that 40,628 people filed … Continued