UPDATE: County has lowest seven-day COVID-19 increase in last month

Published 7:51 am Monday, June 8, 2020

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After a 10 case increase between May 4 and 11, the county’s number of COVID-19 cases went back up over the next few weeks, but after one of the worst weeks since April last week, the county saw it’s lowest total number of increased cases over a seven-day period between June 1 and 8.

During that span, despite the economy in the full swing of reopening and people transitioning back to normal, there were 31 new cases of the novel coronavirus in Shelby County.

The previous three weeks there were 35, 32 and 116, respectively. But following that large spike the week before, the county’s numbers have taken a drastic shift back down, which brought the case total up from 518 last Monday to 549, while the death total still sits at 19, where it has remained for close to a month.

Those new numbers come despite the Alabama Department of Public Health warning last week that the system was overloaded due to an increase of tests.

As of Saturday, June 6, the ADPH said that issue was fixed and many areas had seen a major increase in numbers because of many results being uploaded to the websites latest numbers at once, but for Shelby County, the increase from Friday, June 5, to Monday morning, June 8, was 13—a promising sight.

That despite 591 new tests uploaded by the ADPH over that three-day span and 1,167 new tests administered in the last seven days. That means 2.6 percent of those tested in the last week have tested positive.

So far, 5.1 percent of those tested have gotten back positive results, while 0.25 percent of the county’s population has tested positive with 4.9 percent of the population tested.

Statewide there are now 20,166 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, which marks 1,093 new cases of the virus since last Friday and 2,148 in the last seven days.

Over the last week, 36,854 new tests have been received by the Alabama Department of Public Health, brining the total number tested to 259,232, which means 5.8 percent of those tested in the last seven days have received positive results.

In the last 14 days, there have been 84,475 tested and 5,862 new cases, meaning 6.9 percent of those tested have tested positive in that span.

Overall, 7.7 percent of those tested across the state have gotten back positive results, while 0.4 percent of the state’s population has tested positive with 5.3 percent of the population tested.

The number of “presumed recoveries” remains at 11,395 and should be updated later this week with new numbers as 56.5 percent have already recovered.

Across the state, there have now been 688 deaths, which marks 44 new confirmed deaths in the last seven days.

Of those who have died, 79.9 percent have been 65 or older, while 16.6 percent have been between the ages of 50 and 64 and 3.3 percent between the ages of 25 and 49. In addition to that, 53.6 percent have been male.

Those numbers come despite those 65 or older making up just 21.17 percent of cases, while 78.9 percent of cases are in those between the ages of 0 and 64. Females also make up 57.62 percent of cases in the gender demographic. That means those 65 and older are getting it at a lower rate but are dying at a higher rate, while males are getting at a lower rate and dying at a higher rate as well.

So far there have been 2,022 hospitalizations since the virus began on March 13 with 615 placed in the intensive care unit and 364 on ventilators.

In addition to that, 2,398 healthcare workers, 1,801 long-term care residents and 1,103 long-term care residents have had positive cases.

If you think you have been exposed or have symptoms of COVID-19, please isolate and call your doctor or nearest medical facility for guidance or call the Alabama Department of Public Health hotline at 1-888-264-2256.

For more information about COVID-19, visit Alabamapublichealth.gov/infectiousdiseases/2019-coronavirus.

To view an updated dashboard of confirmed cases and see testing sites, visit Alpublichealth.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7

Continue to follow throughout this week for daily updates to see if the upward trend continues in relation to the number of tests administered.