Alabama saw a huge surge in new COVID-19 cases over the week leading up to Christmas, and many of its numbers are now headed vertical.
New data from the Alabama Department of Public Health shows the state’s 7-day average for new cases jumped 110% in the last week alone, reaching nearly 1,750 new cases per day as of Monday.
[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]
That’s the highest daily average without a backlog since early October, nearly three months ago.
ADPH also reported three consecutive days with at least 2,000 new cases in the days leading up to Christmas – the first time that’s happened since September.
And cases aren’t the only number on the rise.
Alabama’s positivity rate – the percent of tests performed that come back positive – skyrocketed over the last week.
[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]
As of Sunday, the state’s positivity rate on nucleic acid amplification tests had surged to 18.2%. That’s a 143% increase over the previous Sunday, and the highest Alabama’s positivity rate has been since mid-September.
That surge in positivity rate comes as the raw number of tests performed here has remained relatively flat. According to ADPH, Alabama has reported around 60,000 tests per week since October.
Hospitalizations are also on the rise in Alabama. In the last two days alone the number of inpatients increased by more than 100. Alabama topped 500 COVID inpatients in state hospitals on Monday for the first time since Oct. 25.
But the rate of increase for hospitalizations isn’t close to that of cases and positivity rate. And Alabama’s current hospitalizations are a fraction of what they were in September.
[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]
During the start of the delta surge this summer, by the time Alabama reached a 7-day average of 1,750 new cases per day, there were already 1,100 COVID patients in state hospitals. That number would go on to reach nearly 3,000 patients.
The winter wave also brought more hospitalizations more quickly at this time last year. During last year’s holiday surge, cases reached the 1,750 level in November, and at that time there were around 1,200 people hospitalized with the virus.
It’s too early to tell whether hospitalizations will rise in similar ways this time around, or if omicron – the new variant that’s likely causing the latest surge in cases across the nation – will behave differently.
County by county view
Jefferson County, the most populous county in the state and home to Birmingham – now has Alabama’s worst outbreak. Jefferson County is averaging more than 424 new cases per day.
Madison County, home of Huntsville, is second in the state, but still far behind Jefferson. As of Monday, Madison County was averaging 166 new cases per day.
[Can’t see the map? Click here.]
Jefferson is also seeing the highest per capita case rate in Alabama. Jefferson County is averaging 6.3 new cases per 10,000 residents per day.
And it’s not the only metro county with big case counts. Many of the states more populous, urban counties lead the list in cases per capita. Montgomery, Shelby and Madison counties fill out the top 4.
Do you have an idea for a data story about Alabama? Email Ramsey Archibald at rarchibald@al.com, and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more Alabama data stories here.
