Medical professionals are keeping an eye on the number of cases in the state after the Memorial Day holiday.
Dr. Mike Saag is a professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s division of Infectious Disease. He said overall hospitalizations are down, but they are still seeing cases.
“The vast majority of the people we’re seeing in the hospital and clinics are unvaccinated people who picked it up in the community. I think that is going to increase over the coming weeks," he said. "I think we could be headed for, I wont call it a turbulent summer, but I will call it an uncomfortable summer where people will be looking over their shoulder again.”
Saag said it’s particularly important for young people to be vaccinated now that they are able.
“What I can say for sure is that transmission does happen between children. I can also say a lot of our adult cases come from transmission in the home where a child will pick it up in school or some other activity and bring it home," he said, "As we know, the adults are more likely to get sick and that’s what I saw all throughout last year.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Alabama has the second-lowest percentage of people vaccinated, ranking only above Mississippi.