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Chip Brownlee

Chip Brownlee is a former political reporter, online content manager and webmaster at the Alabama Political Reporter. He is now a reporter at The Trace, a non-profit newsroom covering guns in America.

News / Health / State

Widely cited model projects eightfold increase to Alabama death toll

The COVID-19 model that has been widely cited by officials in Alabama and the White House’s coronavirus task force has been updated again, delivering a dire new projection that Alabama could see an eight-fold increase to its death toll by August and a new peak by late June or early July. But for Alabama, in … Continued
May 4, 2020

Long-term care facilities linked to nearly 40 percent of Alabama COVID-19 deaths

Nearly 40 percent of Alabama’s COVID-19 deaths have been among long-term care facility residents. As of Monday, 107 long-term care facility residents have died from the virus, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health. The 107 reported deaths among long-term care facility residents account for 36.1 percent of the state’s 296 COVID-19 deaths, as … Continued
May 4, 2020

More than 1,200 COVID-19 cases in Alabama long-term care facilities

More than 1,200 long-term care facility residents and employees in Alabama have tested positive for COVID-19, the Alabama Department of Public Health reported Sunday. At least 770 residents and 496 employees have tested positive, according to the latest data. The cases in these long-term care facilities, which include both nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, account … Continued
May 3, 2020

Preliminary data: Fewer COVID-19 racial disparities in Jefferson County

Preliminary data from the Jefferson County Health Department released Friday shows that African-Americans in Alabama’s largest county are not dying from COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers — unlike the state as a whole and many other cities across the country. Of Jefferson County’s deaths so far, according to the data released Friday, 40 percent of those … Continued
May 1, 2020

Mobile is first Alabama county to record 1,000 COVID-19 cases

The number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Mobile County has surpassed 1,000, making it the first county in Alabama to record more than a thousand cases of the virus as the city and county say they will begin to ease local restrictions. The latest data from the Alabama Department … Continued
April 29, 2020

“This is not normal, but it’s appropriate”: Renowned UAB doctor on Alabama’s new order

Renowned infectious diseases expert Dr. Michael Saag, a professor and associate dean at UAB’s School of Medicine, said Tuesday that Gov. Kay Ivey’s new “safer-at-home” order is a moderate and cautious step forward — not toward normalcy but toward a new normal. In an interview with APR, Saag praised Ivey for not fully lifting restrictions, … Continued
April 28, 2020

Read Gov. Kay Ivey’s safer-at-home order for yourself

On Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey announced that Alabama will shift from a “stay-at-home” order to a “safer-at-home” order beginning April 30 at 5 p.m. You can read the order and breakdown’s provided by the Alabama Department of Public Health below. The full order: {{CODE1}} The full order in Spanish: {{CODE4}} Breakdown: Another breakdown from the … Continued
April 28, 2020

Supply shortages still inhibiting widespread testing in Alabama

The total number of people tested for COVID-19 in Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, jumped by more than 18,000 on Saturday. It was the single largest increase in the total number of tests reported in a day since the state began performing tests in early March. The total number of reported … Continued
April 27, 2020