The COVID-19 positivity rate in Alabama is inching higher by the day, now sitting at levels it last reached earlier this year, with the state’s hospitalization rate also increasing steadily, according to data from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
The current state positivity rate — the percentage of COVID-19 tests reported as positive to ADPH — is 24.8 percent as of Wednesday. Only ten days ago, the state’s positivity rate was 20.3 percent.
The same statewide positivity rate was last seen in early February of this year when COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate were beginning a decline from the winter high amid the Omicron surge.
New estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the most recent Omicron sub-variants called BA.5 and BA.4 account for just over half of all reported cases of COVID-19 in the South and approximately 52 percent of cases nationwide.
Hospitalizations saw yet another significant increase over the past several days, with 437 confirmed COVID-19 patients in Alabama hospitals as of Wednesday. After trending slightly downwards during the middle of last week, the number of patients increased again.
A week ago, the number of confirmed patients was 362, according to ADPH.
Alabama’s vaccination level continues to plateau at just over half of the state population fully vaccinated, with the 14-day average reaching only 3,035 doses administered a day, according to the latest data from ADPH.
According to the CDC, 66.9 percent of the entire U.S. population is now fully vaccinated.
