COVID

Alabama may need 2,500 more ventilators. It’s having to compete to get them

Alabama may need 2,000 more ventilators than it has, and it’s being forced to compete with other states to get them on the private market. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said Friday that the Alabama Department of Public Health is attempting to source its own ventilators as a number of hospitals in the state … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 3, 2020

Gov. Kay Ivey orders Alabama to stay at home as cases near 1,500

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is issuing a stay-at-home order, reversing course after two weeks of saying the state didn’t need one. “I can’t say this any more clearly,” Ivey said. “COVID-19 is an imminent threat to our way of life. And you need to understand that we have passed urging people to stay at home. … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 3, 2020

Gov. Ivey OKs release of some parole violators in jails

Gov. Kay Ivey is allowing the release of some alleged probation and parole violators in the custody of jails across the state. She’s also issued a number of new directives to free up health care resources. The measures are intended to slow the transmission of COVID-19 and prepare for a rise in hospitalizations. In a … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 2, 2020

Alabama Dept. of Corrections has tested 17 inmates for COVID-19

The Alabama Department of Corrections has tested 17 inmates in nine of the state’s prisons for the novel coronavirus. All tests so far have been negative. Five more inmates have been tested, but their results are pending. ADOC began publishing test data on its website Thursday. It says it will update the information twice a … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 2, 2020

Alabama municipalities may be left out of $2 trillion stimulus package

As the largest economic stimulus in American history flows to states and municipalities around the nation, stipulations in the two-trillion dollar emergency fund may leave Alabama cities out altogether. As enacted, the third stimulus bill, the CARE Act, directs funding for states, and local governments, the catch is that the act only allocates funds for … Continued

Bill Britt

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April 2, 2020

Opinion

For humanitarian and public health reasons, we need to get people out of our jails

For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners (Psalm 69:33) We are facing a crisis unlike any in our lifetime. A virus is infecting us at unprecedented rates. Over 100,000 have been infected in the United States and the death toll in our country is already in … Continued

Bishop Van Moody

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April 2, 2020

As cases surpass 1,100 in Alabama, still no “stay-at-home” order

The number of positive novel coronavirus cases in Alabama rocketed past a thousand Wednesday, but the state still has no shelter-in-place order — and Gov. Kay Ivey’s office says she is not ready to implement one. “The governor remains committed to exploring all options and has not ruled anything out, but she hopes that we … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 1, 2020

More than 200 people hospitalized with confirmed, suspected COVID-19

More than 200 people are hospitalized in Alabama with either a lab-confirmed case of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, or a case the hospital suspects to be the virus but testing has not yet confirmed. At least 120 people with lab-confirmed cases of the virus — about 12 percent of the state’s 1,000 confirmed … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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April 1, 2020

Two hospital employees in Huntsville test positive for COVID-19

A physician and another employee at Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, Alabama, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the hospital said Tuesday. “Crestwood Medical Center learned that 2 of our associates (one physician and one employee) have tested positive for COVID-19,” spokesperson Lori Light said in a statement Tuesday. One is … Continued

Chip Brownlee

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March 31, 2020