Tuscaloosa County's COVID cases fall 19.1%; Alabama cases surge 14.5%
New coronavirus cases leaped in Alabama in the week ending Sunday, rising 14.5% as 14,633 cases were reported. The previous week had 12,783 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Alabama ranked fifth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 4.6% from the week before, with 750,600 cases reported. With 1.47% of the country's population, Alabama had 1.95% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
The Fourth of July holiday disrupted who got tested, when people got tested and when both test results and deaths were reported. This may significantly skew week-to-week comparisons.
Tuscaloosa County reported 420 cases and two deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 519 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 59,752 cases and 794 deaths.
Within Alabama, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Wilcox County with 588 cases per 100,000 per week; Bullock County with 545; and Montgomery County with 538. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Jefferson County, with 2,284 cases; Montgomery County, with 1,219 cases; and Mobile County, with 1,053. Weekly case counts rose in 42 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Montgomery, Jefferson and Shelby counties.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Across Alabama, cases fell in 23 counties, with the best declines in Tuscaloosa County, with 420 cases from 519 a week earlier; in Colbert County, with 190 cases from 233; and in Russell County, with 121 cases from 162.
In Alabama, 27 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 30 people were reported dead.
A total of 1,373,684 people in Alabama have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 19,786 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 88,593,875 people have tested positive and 1,020,861 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
Alabama's COVID-19 hospital admissions rising
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, July 10. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Last week: 1,256
The week before that: 1,070
Four weeks ago: 695
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Last week: 69,400
The week before that: 63,341
Four weeks ago: 57,327
Hospitals in 39 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 42 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa County reported 420 additional COVID-19 cases this week
