MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A feared increase in Alabama's coronavirus caseload after Labor Day get-togethers has yet to materialize two weeks after the holiday.
That's got health officials cautiously optimistic about the state's progress in the pandemic.
New cases are being confirmed daily and about 240 people have died of COVID-19 since the first weekend of September. But Alabama's daily caseload has declined a little instead of skyrocketing, even as testing increases.
The head of the Alabama Department of Public Health, Dr. Scott Harris, says he is “pleasantly surprised." Alabama Hospital Association president Donald Wilson says requiring masks in public seems to have made a difference.