Virus hospitalizations at lowest point in Alabama since 2021

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are at their lowest point in Alabama since late 2021 in another sign that the latest wave of illness is loosening its grip on the state.

Statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health showed that 535 people were being treated in state hospitals on Thursday, the fewest since late December when the highly contagious omicron variant was beginning to take hold. The total was down from the nearly 3,000 people who were hospitalized statewide in late January.

The rolling average number of daily new cases over the last two weeks has declined by 1,089, a decrease of 55%, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. There were 280 new cases per 100,000 people in Alabama over the period, which ranks 25th in the country, they found.

More than 18,400 people have died of COVID-19 in Alabama, giving the state the nation’s third-highest per capita death rate during the pandemic.