COVID-19

The Jefferson County Department of Health on Thursday issued another executive public health order closing all nonessential businesses and further limiting gatherings of people to less than 10. “As cases have continued to increase in Jefferson County, we must take additional bold action to slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Mark Wilson, Jefferson County’s … Continued

Blood donations to U.S. blood banks are down severely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and physicians and blood donation centers are asking the public to step up.  More than 2,700 blood drives in the U.S. have been canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis, according to the American Red Cross, and individual donations are down by … Continued

The head of Alabama’s Hospital Association said Thursday that he fears the coronavirus outbreak could overwhelm Alabama’s health care system if the public doesn’t take social-distancing guidelines seriously. “My big, big concern is as this tsunami approaches us in the coming weeks, we are going to be challenged to have enough ventilators for the state … Continued

Twenty-seven new COVID-19 cases have been reported in Alabama Thursday, a 50 percent increase over the total Wednesday. The total number of novel coronavirus cases in the state is now 78. [visual-link-preview encoded=”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″] New cases were reported in several counties Thursday including Chambers, Walker, Talladega and Mobile Counties. Several cases were reported in Jefferson, Lee, … Continued

UPDATE: Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health said Friday that this public health order issued Thursday is not meant to apply to work-related gatherings of 25 people or more. Read more about how this applies to businesses here. Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Public Health on Thursday issued … Continued

Several Alabama hospitals say they are struggling with testing supply shortages amid growing demand for testing in the state and a rising number of cases in 14 Alabama counties. East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, near Auburn, and DCH Health System in Tuscaloosa both said Wednesday evening that they’re working hard to deal with hundreds … Continued

Alabama Power Company last week announced that it had not and would not disconnect any of its utility customers during the COVID-19 crisis. That commitment was not enough for the environmental group GASP or Energy Alabama. That was the simple story I was writing when the absurdity of the situation dawned on me. This is … Continued

The Alabama Department of Corrections has suspended visitations and begun screening staff for fever at state prisons due to concerns of COVID-19 entering the facilities.  “We are closely monitoring the spread of COVID-19, and will be making additional operational and preventative decisions as this situation continues to evolve while keeping our primary directive – maintaining … Continued

The Alabama Senate earlier this month approved a $5 million supplemental appropriation to the budget to combat the spread of COVID-19, a condition caused by a novel strain of coronavirus. Much of that funding was to set up coronavirus testing, but the state is also working on setting up the ability to contact doctors with … Continued