April 27 COVID-19 Update

Friends,

We had our weekly call with the Governor this morning, and she confirmed she will be giving a report to the people of Alabama TOMORROW on the State’s new Health Order to be issued by her and Dr. Harris for the State moving forward. (I still believe that the new Health Order will go in place on May 1st even though it will be announced tomorrow, but I could be wrong). She said it had not been completely decided and has not been signed yet. She said she had no doubts some would think the steps she was taking went too far and others would think it didn’t go far enough, but that she was confident she and the Committee advising her had done their very best to find the proper balance at this time, and that she would continue to evaluate the new State Health Order as they continue to monitor all data on a daily basis. She also said the new Health Order she and Dr. Harris intend to issue, would NOT take us back to normal, or the way we were before the pandemic entered our State.

The Committee advising her on the steps to be taken based on our COVID-19 data as a State gave their recommendations to her on Friday of last week. That Committee, whose members I listed in my update last week, looked heavily at AL’s hospital capacity levels, both ICU and non-ICU;  the numbers for new cases and deaths on a daily basis from inception to present, as well as all other data and numbers available for COVID-19. The Committee and the Governor also looked at the White House and CDC Guidelines for Opening Up America (that I also included in a 2nd update last week), and the Small Business Commission’s COVID-19 Task Force Sub-Committee Recommendations, along with the input from many people, groups, associations and entities.

WHAT I EXPECT:

As I indicated last week, I expect the new Health order to allow most all businesses and recreational areas to re-open with limitations. I believe this because I unfortunately believe most were closed in an effort to control human behavior, and not because they could not have operated safely during this pandemic, and in most cases probably could have operated even safer than the grocery stores, pharmacies, big box stores and many others who were allowed to stay open because of their smaller customer base and traffic. Trying to control human behavior is a difficult task, and think we all have learned a lot from this going forward. There are certainly things we might and should do differently next time based on what we have learned, but hard to fault anyone for the decision they made. 

THE NUMBERS AND THE GOOD NEWS:

The good news is that AL’s numbers have hit a plateau and the curve has flattened according to our State Health Officer, but it is true we have not seen a sharp decline in our numbers yet. We have right at a total of just under 6,500 Alabamians test positive for the virus, and 219 reported virus related deaths total to date in the State. Of the 6,500 who have tested positive, almost 1,000 of those were health care workers. Over the last week, we have averaged around 200 new cases per day, and most of those were coming from 1-3 “hot spot” areas in certain counties in the State (Mobile, Marshall and Tallapoosa) as a result of a particular place being infected. I had a call with Jeff Co Chief Health Officer early last week, and Jeff Co was only averaging between 3-9 new cases a day for the week before that, and I hope that continued or lessened for this past week as well. We have had approximately 850 people be hospitalized to date from the approx 6,500 who tested positive. Dr. Harris also said we have plenty of available hospital capacity/beds, and that includes ICU beds, and we have plenty of ventilators available and are meeting the demand for PPE.

We are working to get more testing capacity, as it is pretty good in our larger metropolitan areas where there are more labs, but not as good in the rural areas of the State. To date, we have tested almost 74,000 people in AL. They continue to work on and implement the contact tracing plan and ADPH is working with medical students to help ramp contact tracing up. Walmart has offered to and has started testing in some areas of the Black Belt as well. Dr Harris said we continue to see that the majority of those diagnosed with the virus are seniors and over the age of 65, or those that already have a chronic health diagnosis. 

Secretary of Labor Fitzgerald Washington shared the following:

DOL has been working tirelessly to process every claim.  The number of new claims has finally gone down over the last week after seeing record numbers of claims in the last 6 weeks.

New measures have been implemented throughout the last two weeks to help speed along the claims process. 

Please use the claims tracker available on their website. 

Continue to show patience with the department as they process your claim. 

Also note that they are working with the Attorney General’s office to prosecute any false claims made throughout this pandemic. 

THE LEGISLATURE:

The AL Legislature will go back into Session Monday, May 4th, but for a very limited scope and with extreme safety precautions in place to ensure social distancing etc. We will only be taking up the 2 budgets and local bills in the remainder of the General Session, which by law, must be concluded by May 18th. I think the plan is to try and pass the budgets and these local bills as quick as possible in order to limit the days we are in Montgomery “together" as much as possible, so I do not expect us to be in Session until the 18th. Because I serve on the House Education Budget Committee, we will be the members primarily meeting the week of May 4th, but our Committee will also be kept at a distance from each other as we work to get the Education budget ready for a vote.  

Great Budget News: The great news is that I do not expect the State to go into proration from this pandemic at this time, and we are in good shape for the coming fiscal year despite the blow to the economy caused by this pandemic. I am proud to say that your legislature has been spending and saving your tax dollars wisely. We have been setting aside funds for an economic downturn like this will certainly cause, and we have good reserves in the Stabilization Fund and the Advancement and Technology Fund to fund education and all teacher units funded by the State. We also have a great first 6 months of the fiscal year to help offset the last 6 months. The April receipts will be down at extremely low levels, but there is no need to panic! It does not appear that the anticipated devastating decreases from this will cause us to decrease our appropriations for the upcoming 2021 fiscal year in education from the levels they were funded last year, and we will likely see moderate increases in funding even! I also expect the State to issue and do a bond issue for capitol improvement projects this Session.   

PARTING MESSAGE: 

I was reminded recently by Richard Simmons that we all will face trials and storms in our life, but it is how you respond to those trials and storms that make all the difference. People who turn to God in those times will find peace in their life.  People who don’t, will likely become bitter and be unhappy. If you turn to God for help and to lead you, and I hope you do, ask Him to help you live in the present, for today!! I am told most of us get our fear because we worry too much about tomorrow. Also, remember to thank God for all the blessings you have in this life. This pandemic has made me realize as much as anything how much I have to be grateful for. I can’t remember how many years it has been when I had this much time to be with my whole family, and to visit with my 84 and 85 year old parents, even if from a distance! To exercise and walk almost daily, and catch up with friends over the phone or from 6ft away.

I am so grateful for all those who continue to be God’s hands and feet on this earth even in the midst off all this! As my priest Rich Webster says all the time, God is at work all around us, here and now, and He is here for us even in our darkest and toughest of times! God is at work in and through each of us if we will just ask Him! Alabama is a great State with so many great people, and its easy to see God at work if we just take the time to stop and look!! Who knows, you might even notice Him at work in you!!

Peace, David