Tuscaloosa Reports Lowest Number Of Active Virus Cases Since June

TUSCALOOSA, AL. — Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox on Tuesday highlighted some areas of improvement as it relates to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with Tuscaloosa seeing its lowest number of active virus cases since city officials began recording the data in June. While the possibility exists for future spikes due to students returning and the upcoming Labor Day holiday, Maddox hopes the current trends could be a good sign.

Maddox pointed out that Tuscaloosa County currently has 543 active virus cases, marking a substantial improvement from the high of 951 active cases in July following the holiday weekend that prompted a noticeable rise in new cases locally.

"That’s certainly a very positive sign, that I think your actions and leadership contributed to," he told the City Council during his weekly COVID-19 update.

Tuesday's meeting also saw the mayor mention that this fall would be the first time since World War II that Tuscaloosa will not have a University of Alabama football game during the last quarter of the fiscal year.

"The good news is we had already baked in to the upcoming budget the possibility of no football," Maddox said, before pointing out that fiscal year 2021, which will begin this calendar year, will see five home games for UA, compared to four in 2019.

Maddox did concede that Bryant-Denny Stadium wouldn't have the same crowds both inside and outside on a football Saturday, but said it will still have a better economic impact than a fall without football. The update also coincided with an announcement to UA season ticket holders that only 20% of the stadium's capacity will be utilized and tailgating will be banned this fall.

"Even if there’s no one in the stadium, there will be some people who will come to be part of whatever the experience may be," Maddox said. "If there is a silver lining, we do get an extra football game for 2021."

COVID-19 UPDATE

In his weekly report, Maddox told the Council that Tuscaloosa County had confirmed 4,524 total cases since the onset of the pandemic, in addition to 85 deaths.

While the mayor was quick to point out that one death from the virus is too many, he said the downward trends for deaths and inpatient cases could be a good sign.

"All of the metrics by which you look at we’re really seeing some positive trends," he said. "After this time last month, it was becoming incredibly difficult."

DCH Health System has seen sustained improvement with respect to its COVID-19 patient totals over the last two weeks. The three-hospital system on Tuesday reported 71 total inpatient cases being treated, with 22 being treated in intensive care units. DCH also said eight patients are currently being treated on ventilators.

The primary spike over the summer came in the two weeks following the July 4 holiday, which resulted in Tuscaloosa seeing nearly 1,000 active cases. However, Maddox said after a mask mandate and changes to alcohol serving hours were implemented, numbers began to move in the right direction.

"When you go back and look at these spikes, you start seeing the impact of July 4," the mayor said. "The next question is what will Labor Day bring? And what will the return of students coming back in to Tuscaloosa bring?"

The return of students has already generated some negative nationwide attention for Tuscaloosa, after the post-Bid Day crowds flooded the Strip and prompted a dozen citations issued by the Tuscaloosa Police Department, in addition to four arrests.

Maddox had already addressed the issue to local media on Monday, but reiterated many of this points to the Council Tuesday.

"My guess is you had a lot of people in town for Bid Day and maybe not fully aware of everything required," he said.

The mayor then said he and District 4 Councilman Lee Busby met with University of Alabama officials this week to work on securing additional resources to enforce public health mandates, in addition to working toward a joint communication strategy.

Since Sunday, Maddox has also repeatedly said the blame can't rest solely on the students or Bid Day — an event he personally attended with his daughter.

"I had to go out to a Bid Day event that afternoon and UAPD separated parents from children who then got a two-minute window and it was as safe of an environment as you could have," he said in praising the organization of the day's events.

"I do think it's easy in this day of social media to make a broad indictment of 'look at these students who are going to kill us all,'"Maddox added. "I think what we continually have to do is stay focused and know we’re in a good space relative to the numbers today."