Dr. Scott Harris with the Alabama Department of Health says although the state has made progress on battling coronavirus – it’s still too early to say just how the changes will impact re-opening the state.  On Friday, Harris stated in some parts of the state the numbers are beginning to flatten out, yet in others they’re still rapidly on the rise.  Health officials are projecting Alabama’s peak will occur sometime in the next several days.

Alabama has seen 641 coronavirus-related hospitalizations since March 13th – with 253 of those patients requiring treatment in the ICU; 153 were on mechanical ventilators.  The ADPH does not have data on how many of those patients have been released.

Dr. Harris said he understands the desire for people to get back to work – however, he once again stressed that it takes a couple of weeks to know if people exposed two weeks ago are actually infected – or not. Harris added that the apparent overall slowing in the number of cases can be attributed to social distancing and people, in general, following the state’s orders.

As of Monday morning Alabama had just over 4,900 cases of coronavirus with 113 reported deaths as a result of the illness.

(AL.COM/www.al.com)