All Alabama Counties Under 'High Risk' For COVID-19 Spread

Michael Seale
·2 min read

MONTGOMERY, AL — As the coronavirus pandemic roars on, the Alabama Department of Public Health announced that all 67 of the state's counties are listed under the "high risk" category for the spread of COVID-19.

The increased risk comes as the omicron variantof the virus surges statewide.

"Alabama is seeing its highest daily case numbers in the 22 months of the pandemic," state health officer Dr. Scott Harris said in a statement Friday. "All 67 Alabama counties are in the high category for overall level of community transmission, and percent positivity in tests is the highest ever."

Alabama’s current positivity rate is at 45.9 percent with more than 1 million cases of the virus and nearly 17,000 deaths from the virus recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.

"The single most important action people can take to confer needed protection from serious illness and death from COVID-19 is to become fully vaccinated and boosted when it is appropriate," Harris said. "Regrettably, Alabama ranks around 45th in the U.S. in the number of people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination, 2.7 million, and slightly lower in the number who are fully vaccinated, about 2.2 million."

Alabamians who have been vaccinated, by age group:

  • Over 75: 91 percent

  • Age 65-74: 84.5 percent

  • Age 50-64: 70.1 percent

  • Age 25-49: 53.2 percent

  • Age 18-24: 44.8 percent

  • Age 12-17: 35.9 percent

  • Age 5-11: 11.2 percent

"The course of the virus has proven to be highly unpredictable as well as deadly and more variants are expected to be identified," Harris said. "But I am hopeful that with greater acceptance of vaccine and innovation, COVID-19 can be brought under control in 2022."

This article originally appeared on the Across Alabama Patch