For the second consecutive day, Alabama has set a record for new coronavirus cases. The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 859 new cases of the virus on Friday afternoon, bringing the state total to 23,333. On Thursday, the state reported 848 new cases, which at that point was by far the highest daily total to date.
The two consecutive highs also pushed the state’s rolling 7-day average for new cases past 600 for the first time. It’s also the second straight day the 7-day average has reached an all-time high.
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Roughly half of the state’s 859 new cases come from just eight counties, including Montgomery County, which for the second straight day added more than 100 new cases. The other seven are Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, Morgan, Mobile, Madison, Marshall and Walker.
Across the state, 29 of the state’s 67 counties saw their 7-day average for new cases hit an all time high on Friday.
Montgomery has added 1,000 new cases in the last 14 days, the most over that time in the state. In all, the state added more than 6,700 new cases in the last 14 days. Nearly 30 percent of the state’s all-time cases came within the last two weeks.
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Six smaller counties – Monroe, Cullman, Morgan, Conecuh, Limestone and Fayette – all saw their case numbers increase by at least 50 percent over the last 14 days.
The increase in cases comes as testing has ramped up in the state, but testing hasn’t increased as much as the case count and doesn’t explain away the rise in cases. In fact, over the last two weeks, the percent of tests that came back positive also climbed past 9 percent.
Several counties in and around the Black Belt have been seeing some of the worst per capita infection rates in the state, and that hasn’t changed in recent weeks. In the last 14 days, no county has seen a larger increase in the per capita rate than Lowndes County, which is just west of Montgomery. It rose by 114 cases per 10,000 residents over that time. Lowndes now has 345.5 cases per 10,000 residents.
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The rest of the Black Belt also pops when looking at new cases per capita over just the last 14 days.
Alabama reported 14 deaths overnight, bringing the current total to 764. Of those, 159 people died in the last 14 days.
Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.
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