Nearly all Alabama counties are at heightened risk for COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports most of the counties in the state have a high community transmission level of the coronavirus. The CDC recommends residents mask indoors and get regularly tested as symptoms present themselves. The Alabama Department of Public Health is encouraging the same precautions.
Wes Stubblefield is with ADPH, and he says it’s important students remain health aware as they go back to school.
“A vaccination is available for anyone six months and older. The other things that may be important are using social distancing and masking in indoor settings like the CDC is recommending, especially if COVID levels are higher," he said. "Try not to come to school or attend functions if they are sick [and] making sure that they have the ability to test themselves. As we know these newer COVID variant symptoms are relatively mild.”
Stubblefield says the fight against COVID-19 is not over yet.
“We as healthcare providers all understand that everyone is tired of talking about COVID-19, but COVID-19 has not gone away. It is still a serious illness in certain cases," he said. "It is more serious than influenza. People are still getting sick, and people are still dying. People need to pay attention to what's happening in their community so we can have a good, productive end to the year as our kids go back to school.”
Although deaths are not recorded daily, the rate of deaths has increased due to higher hospitalizations. The number of hospitalizations has also increased from 50 per day in April to close to 700 now.
