Ivey and State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris announced the extension of existing emergency health orders at a news conference this morning. The extension of an order set to expire Friday comes as new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations are at their highest levels since the pandemic began.
"These are some of our darkest days since COVID-19 became a part of our daily conversations, and the rising number of new cases has put a strain on our health care system unlike any time in recent memory," Ivey said.
The extended order generally requires that people from different households wear masks in public when interacting within 6 feet of each other.
Pending FDA approval, Harris said he expects the first shipment of 40,950 doses of Pfizer vaccine next week, and about the same number of Moderna doses the week after that. He said front-line health care workers, nursing home residents and first responders should all be vaccinated by spring, but he does not expect most Alabamians to have access to the vaccine before early summer.
"I think the most difficult thing for us to say after waiting all this time is it's not going to be enough. There's going to be a scarcity of vaccine and that's going to continue for awhile. We want people to understand that," Harris said. "It's going to take a little bit of time before we have enough to go around."
Non-work gatherings are prohibited if they cannot consistently maintain a 6-foot distance between people of different households.
Retail stores "may not knowingly allow customers or patrons to congregate within 6 feet of a person from another household."
Close-contact service providers, such as barber shops and hair salons, can remain open subject to various restrictions, including that employees must wear masks when within 6 feet of customers.
Entertainment venues can remain open, subject to social distancing guidelines and if employees wear masks when interacting with visitors.
Restaurants must limit the number of people at a table to eight, and separate tables by at least 6 feet. They can be closer than this distance if separated by partitions.
The Alabama Department of Public Health today reported 140 Morgan County residents were newly infected with the virus. Decatur Morgan Hospital today has 101 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 inpatients, the highest since the pandemic began. It also has 15 COVID-19 patients in the ICU including 12 on ventilators, both record highs. Athens-Limestone Hospital is also at or near a record high number of COVID-19 patients today, with 24. Eight of those patients are in the ICU, including one on a ventilator.
Alabama this week hit a record for the number of people in state hospitals with COVID-19 with more than 2,000 people hospitalized. The state also saw a record number in daily cases with more than 3,000 new infections being reported daily.
The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Alabama has risen over the past two weeks from 2,288 new cases a day on Nov. 24 to 3,395 new cases a day on Tuesday.
Since the pandemic began, the state health department has reported more than 280,000 confirmed and probable virus cases.
"We just have to remember we've got almost 4,000 of our family and loved ones and friends who are not going to be here this holiday season, that we've lost so far in our state," Harris said. "If you had a 747 crash every month for the last 10 months, that's about how many people we've lost in the past 10 months in our state."
— eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.
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