Alabama adds 666 new cases of COVID-19 as delta variant surges

State officials reported 666 new cases of COVID-19 on July 31, according to a dashboard operated by the Alabama Department of Public Health.

Those numbers are lower than the previous week, where cases averaged more than 2,000 a day. The case total for July 31 is the lowest in more than two weeks, but reports of new positive cases often drop on weekends.

Department officials delayed reporting of case numbers from Thursday and Friday as they updated the dashboard. On Sunday, the dashboard showed about 2,000 cases for July 29 and 1,327 for July 30.

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The Alabama Department of Public Health has categorized all but three of the state’s counties as high risk for transmission of COVID-19. Experts in infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham recently announced that almost all samples sequenced by labs at the university have been delta variant, which is more transmissible than other variants. Dr. Michael Saag, a professor in UAB’s department of infectious diseases, recently urged both unvaccinated and vaccinated people to wear masks in indoor settings.

Read more: Delta variant as contagious as chickenpox, experts say.

Alabama hospitals reported Saturday that they were treating 1,371 patients for COVID-19. That number has risen sharply since early July, when hospitals treated less than 200 patients for the virus. Last summer, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients peaked at around 1,500, and it hit 3,000 during the winter surge.

Health officials and state leaders have been urging Alabama residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as the state struggles with the nation’s lowest vaccination rate. The average number of COVID shots has increased in recent weeks but still lags high rates from the Spring.

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