The Alabama Department of Public Health reported 3,754 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday and Sunday, bringing the 7-day average of new cases reported up to a new high of 1,854.
Twenty-two deaths were reported Saturday and Sunday, bringing that total to 1,254.
A total of 584,387 people have been tested since March, according to ADPH, and 65,865 have now tested positive. Of those who tested positive, 29,736 are presumed recovered.
No updated hospitalization data was available Monday morning, but last week hospital officials reported that 85% of intensive care units were full.
New Cases & 7-Day Average from BamaTracker.com
Daily hospitalizations of confirmed cases via BamaTracker.com
Alabama is now under a statewide mask ordinance, issued by Gov. Kay Ivey last week. It expires at the end of the month, unless Ivey extends it.
Meanwhile, school systems are working on how to start as safely as possible the new school year next month. Mobile County Schools, the state’s largest system, said last week it will not have in-person classes when the year begins.
State Superintendent Eric Mackey told the Alabama State Board of Education Tuesday that it could not mandate students wear masks. The orders have to come either from Ivey or Harris, local school boards or local ordinances. As of Tuesday, about one-fourth of public school students were under mask ordinances, Mackey said.
Ivey said on Wednesday that it will depend on how case numbers look going into August before she decides whether to extend the order and require face masks in schools.
“We’ll just have to keep an eye on the numbers,” she said.
The ADPH updates its data at 10 a.m. daily.