Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey today (March 4) relaxed some COVID-related restrictions and extended the mask requirement portion of the state health order. She did, however, emphasize that this would be the final extension of the mask requirement.
“(State Health Officer) Dr. (Scott) Harris and I are both convinced that we need to get past Easter and hopefully allow more Alabamians to get their first shot before we take a step some other states have taken to lift the mask order altogether and lift other restrictions,” Ivey said. “But let me be abundantly clear — after April 9 I will not keep the mask order in effect.”
Ivey said businesses now have 5 weeks to decide what, if any, policies and restrictions they will implement after April 9.
Changes
Changes announced today to the state health order include:
- In restaurants: removing the seating limit of eight at tables
- In senior citizen centers: outdoor programs will be allowed at the centers. Also, the Department of Senior Services would be allowed to write guidelines for outdoor programs the centers would have to follow.
- In hospitals and similar institutions: the change would raise from a maximum of one to a maximum of two caregivers permitted to accompany someone in a hospital at any one time or in a nursing home, subject to reasonable restrictions imposed because of the local COVID-19 situation and other factors.
View the changes by clicking here.
Grim milestone reached
A March 3 update from the Alabama Department of Public Health reports that the state has had 497,154 COVID-19 cases and 10,029 deaths related to the coronavirus. ADPH reports that “since the first COVID-19 death in Alabama was reported last March, the vast majority (78.9 percent) of deaths have occurred among those age 65 and older, followed by people in the 50-64 year-old age range (16.7 percent), followed by those ages 25 to 49 (4.2 percent). Females represented 46.4 percent of deaths; males, 53.4; and 0.2, unknown. By race, 59.4 percent of decedents were white, 27.8 percent were black, 8.7 percent were race unknown, 0.3 percent were Asian, and 3.8 percent were of other races.”
As of Feb. 8, vaccine eligibility includes people 65 years and older and those who fall into several categories of frontline personnel, including health care workers, teachers, first responders and clergy members.
The Alabama COVID-19 Vaccination Allocation Plan outlines the various phases, and is available for download by clicking here.
ADPH reports that Alabama is averaging 140,000 first doses of vaccine per week, with almost 1 million doses administered thus far. More information on vaccine scheduling is available by clicking here.
Vaccines available
Three vaccines are now available in Alabama, following approval of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. Alabama is expected to receive 40,100 doses of the vaccine this week, ADPH reported, but has been notified not to expect any additional shipments, besides the initial one, for the next three weeks. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are also being given in Alabama.
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