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The Alabama Department of Public Health has resumed daily updates to its COVID-19 dashboard due to an increase in cases seen in the past two weeks.
“[ADPH] has resumed updating the data and monitoring dashboard seven days a week due to an increased number of COVID-19 cases in our state, ”said Dr. Karen Landers, Deputy Health Officer public to ADPH, in an email to AL.com on Monday.
ADPH updated the dashboard only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays since June 7th. Daily updates resumed on Thursday, July 15.
The state has seen a rapid increase in COVID cases and hospitalizations in the two-plus weeks since the July 4 vacation, as the highly contagious Delta variant swept through the state. Each of the vaccines currently available in the United States – including the Johnson & Johnson single-injection vaccine – is highly effective against Delta, especially in preventing serious illness and death.
But Alabama in particular is at high risk for a potentially devastating epidemic. It remains the last in the country in terms of vaccination rate, and the variant is there. Last week, the UAB reported that more than 70% of virus samples taken statewide were the Delta strain, and the numbers have only risen since. As of Tuesday morning, 85% of virus samples tested at UAB since July 12 were positive for Delta.
“ADPH urges all eligible Alabamians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to protect themselves and reduce transmission of this serious and deadly virus,” Landers said Monday. “The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, free and readily available. “
Do you have an idea for an Alabama data story? Email Ramsey Archibald at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter @RamseyArchibald. Read more stories about Alabama data here.
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