With Some ICUs At Capacity, Alabama Accelerates Its Reopening

TOPLINE

Movie theaters, casinos and a host of entertainment venues across the state of Alabama will be able to reopen starting at 5 p.m. Friday, Gov. Kay Ivey decreed in an executive order even though coronavirus case numbers are spiking across Alabama, with the highest single-day total of new cases reported Thursday since the pandemic began and as ICUs have filled up in the state’s capital city of Montgomery.

KEY FACTS

KEY BACKGROUND

Like much of the U.S., the state looked to have hit a plateau in hospitalizations in April, but the disease’s spread has accelerated in May, with the total case count in Montgomery more than doubling from what it had before this month and a single-day record statewide of 406 new cases reported Thursday.

In Montgomery, the rise in May was enough to put the city on an unreleased White House hotspot watch list, which was obtained by NBC News. Though Dr. Karen Landers of the Alabama Department of Health previously told AL.com she wasn’t sure why the situation had gotten so serious in Montgomery, in an interview with WBRC-TV, the health official blamed the ICUs reaching capacity on the return of elective surgeries, saying they were stretching health care resources thin.

Landers added some rising case numbers are to be expected as testing expands.

CRITICAL QUOTE

“Today is the next step in what has seemed like a long and difficult process of reopening our economy, while we remain true to the fact that this is a deadly, serious disease,” Ivey said at a news conference.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Alabama is one of several areas across the South that a newly updated model from PolicyLab claims is among the most at-risk for a second wave of infections. The model relies on using cell phone data to track social mobility.

FURTHER READING

Dire Situation In Alabama Capital: ICUs Full, Coronavirus Cases Double In May (Forbes)

With just one ICU bed available, Montgomery, Alabama, is sending sick patients to Birmingham (CNN)

Montgomery hospitals are out of ICU beds, mayor says (Alabama Political Reporter)

Does Alabama have COVID-19 hot spots? (WBRC-TV)