People without masks on dine outside Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant in Birmingham’s Lakeview neighborhood Friday afternoon while a server in a mask tends to customers. (Connor Sheets | [email protected])
More than 27.5 percent of COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County have been confirmed in the past seven days, according to the latest data from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, has seen 4,802 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, according to numbers released by ADPH Friday morning. Of those cases, 1,321 were added in the past week, far more than any other county.
Jefferson County’s weekly tally is more than double that of Mobile County, which added 633 cases, and more than triple that of Montgomery County, which has seen 426 new cases in the past seven days. Mobile and Montgomery counties, though both significantly less populous than Jefferson County, have each been more significant hotspots at different points since coronavirus came to Alabama.
Jefferson County and Birmingham were quicker to institute rules regulating businesses and masks in the pandemic’s early days. But those rules were loosened as case numbers fell in the county. Birmingham and Jefferson County recently reinstated mask requirements and other measures, but the county’s case count has still skyrocketed in recent days as confirmations of infection have lagged behind due to COVID-19′s incubation period.
ADPH’s Friday data shows that Alabama experienced a record-high daily increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, with 1,758. The new total number of confirmed cases statewide is 41,362. The 7-day new case average is now 1,092, also a record. Hospitalizations reached a new peak as well, with 843.
Confirmed COVID-19 deaths rose 22 since yesterday, to 983. ADPH reported that 430,128 people have been tested for the virus. To date, 22,082 people have recovered from the virus in Alabama.
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