Alabama has nation’s 2nd lowest new COVID case rate as mask order ends - AL.com

Alabama’s mask mandate officially ended Friday evening at 5 p.m. Most people in Alabama will no longer be required to wear masks in public for the first time in nearly nine months.

The mask order ends as Alabama has the second lowest rate of new coronavirus cases in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[Can’t see the map? Click here.]

The CDC reports Alabama added 42.1 new cases per 100,000 people over during the week ending April 7. Arkansas is the only state to add fewer cases per 100,000 during that time, at 36.7.

Some states, meanwhile, have seen cases skyrocket. Michigan is in the middle of the nation’s largest current surge, and the governor there this week asked for in-person high school classes to be suspended. Michigan is averaging 492 new cases per 100,000 people over the last week - more than 10 times Alabama’s figure.

As the state’s mask order ends, things in Alabama seem to be trending in the right direction. Alabama is averaging fewer new cases per day than it has since mid-May of last year, and hospitalizations here have flattened.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

The state’s 7-day average for new cases was 281 on Friday, the lowest it’s been since May 14, 2020. It was a long road to get here. Between those two dates, the state added more than 500,000 cases and 10,000 deaths.

And while the Alabama Department of Public Health has reported fewer tests for the virus in recent weeks, the state’s positivity rate, once the highest in the nation, has fallen fast. 10 percent of tests performed over the last week have come back positive, down from more than 50 percent earlier this year.

And there were actually fewer people being treated for the virus in Alabama hospitals on Friday than there were on the same day last year. On April 9, 2020, 324 people were being treated for the virus in state hospitals. Friday’s total was 318.

[Can’t see the chart? Click here.]

Within Alabama, most counties have seen a decline in cases even since the start of April, when cases were already relatively low. The state’s average has gone down by more than 100 cases per day since March 31, and 43 of Alabama’s 67 counties saw either a decrease or no change in their average daily caseloads.

Coosa, a small county in central Alabama just southeast of Jefferson, has the state’s highest virus case rate right now at around five cases per 10,000 people. It’s only home to around 10,000 people, and is averaging around five cases per day, but it’s one of the few counties to see an increase in cases so far in April. On March 31, Coosa was averaging 0 new cases per day.

[Can’t see the map? Click here.]

Other counties have seen increases, too. Autauga County, just northwest of Montgomery, is currently averaging 15 new cases per day. That’s about 7 new cases per day more than its average on March 31. That increase is the largest in the state over that time.

Alabama’s numbers declined as it continues to roll out the three approved vaccines. As of Friday afternoon, the state had fully vaccinated 32 percent of its population 16 years old or older, and partially vaccinated 19 percent. The state is administering about 35,000 doses per day on weekdays, and significantly less - usually between 5,000 and 10,000 doses - on weekends.

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.

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