Jefferson County Averaging 480 New Coronavirus Cases Per Day

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The spike in coronavirus cases since the end of October has been described by Alabama's chief health officer as "mind boggling." And Jefferson County has led the pack as far as new cases are concerned recently.

Alabama has averaged 3,045 new cases of the virus every day for the last week, and Jefferson County has averaged 480 of those cases each day.

The Alabama Department of Public Health confirmed 3,840 new cases of COVID-19 Friday and 55 deaths from the virus, the fourth day in row the state has reported at least 50 deaths from the virus. In Jefferson County, 594 new cases were reported Friday, with two deaths.

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Over the last seven days, Jefferson County's average number of new COVID=19 cases and deaths, as reported by the Jefferson County Department of Health:

• Nov. 28: 370 cases, 0 deaths
• Nov. 29: 404 cases, 0 deaths
• Nov. 30: 346 new cases, 0 deaths
• Dec. 1: 462 new cases, 1 death
• Dec. 2: 688 new cases, 10 deaths
• Dec. 3: 502 new cases, 2 deaths
• Dec. 4: 594 new cases, 2 deaths

The ADPH reported Friday that a record 1,875 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, as hospital beds across the state start to fill up.

"The numbers are just mind boggling," said state health director Dr. Scott Harris during a streaming news conference with Sen. Doug Jones Friday. "This isn’t anything that is sustainable. We cannot continue to go down this road seeing the numbers head in the direction they are right now."

UAB Hospital is already delaying some elective surgeries due to the amount of patients in the hospital with COVID-19. Huntsville Hospital is also delaying elective surgeries.

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