Alabama Department of Public Health state health officer Dr. Scott Harris and chief medical officer Dr. Mary McIntyre cautioned Alabamians about rising rates of COVID-19 and asked them to be vigilant during the days ahead. The spread of the virus has resulted in the greatest increases in hospitalizations since July, and for the past six weeks there have been at least 1,000 new cases per day. In July, Alabama hospitals were at maximum capacity.

The statistics are alarming, officials say — there have been nearly 240,000 individual cases in Alabama so far with 1.5 percent of cases resulting in death (3,459). This is about 15 times the death rate from influenza. In seniors age 75 and older the risk is far greater.