Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey today (Jan. 21) extended the state’s mask ordinance through March 5, even as the state is trying to ramp up vaccine distribution.
“The mask mandate remains the one step we can all take in order to keep some balance in our daily lives while maintaining health and safety,” Ivey said in a joint press conference with Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris held at the Alabama State Capitol.
Other than extending the Safer at Home guidelines, no changes were made to the order in today’s announcement. (View more information and graphics related to the state public health order here.)
The state health order continues the requirement that masks to be worn in most public places and when interacting within 6 feet of people outside one’s household. The mask requirement includes schools and requires that students grade 3 and above, including college students, wear masks at school or while in class. (Read about the past announcements regarding the state health order here.)
Alabama’s vaccine rollout draws criticism
In total, Alabama has had some 429,655 COVID-19 cases as of Jan. 20, with 6,283 deaths and nearly 40,000 hospitalizations, according to data published by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations began in Alabama in December. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are both being given in the state.
As of Jan. 21, the state has been allocated 640,150 doses total doses of vaccine, of which 446,150 doses have been delivered. Alabama has administered 202,643 doses of the vaccine. (See the latest Alabama totals on vaccine distribution, county-by-county risk of infection, and other data here.)
Those numbers exclude doses delivered to federal programs and administered in Alabama, such as those given through programs of the departments of Defense and State, as well as the Veterans Affairs Department’s Veterans Health Administration, the Bureau of Prisons and Indian Health Service, all of which were set to receive a direct allocation of vaccines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (More information on the vaccine rollout plan is available here.)
But the rollout has been slow, with many news sources putting Alabama at or near the bottom of the list of U.S. states effectively getting the vaccine into arms.
In a statement released Jan. 20, Harris said, “Every person who receives a COVID-19 shot is deserving of one and will receive it, as we are determined to make sure that no vaccine is sitting unused on the shelf. We are making every effort to get shots into arms as quickly as possible. The biggest obstacle to vaccination is still the limited vaccine supply. We are attempting to manage expectations, because the timeline for receipt of vaccine has not changed and we cannot give people a resource we don’t have yet.”
The state has given priority to vaccinating first responders, frontline health care workers and those 75 years old and older — a group estimated to number at least 350,000 people. Many have or will receive their second dose of the vaccine with the next week or so.
Where to get information
Information provided by ADPH notes that while appointments are limited, the COVID-19 Vaccine Scheduling Hotline number at 1-855-566-5333 remains available. ADPH requests that the public not call this line to schedule a vaccine UNLESS they currently are in an eligible group – healthcare workers, people age 75 and older, law enforcement officers or firefighters.
For general information about COVID-19, including locations where testing is available, call the COVID-19 Information Hotline number at 1-800-270-7268.
Additional information about the COVID-19 vaccine is available here.
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