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The latest available data from the Alabama Department of Public Health shows that the state’s positivity rate, along with the number of individuals receiving treatment in state hospitals for the virus, is continuing to decline.
According to data released by ADPH on Thursday, the state’s current positivity rate is 11.4 percent, a considerable decline from one month ago, when the positivity rate was 24.6 percent.
The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate is the percentage of COVID-19 tests reported back to ADPH that are positive and is an important metric to use when analyzing the current state of the pandemic in Alabama. Officials have previously said that the reported number of positive COVID-19 cases might be an undercount due to asymptomatic cases, reporting lags, and at-home COVID-19 tests going unreported to the state.
The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate, along with other data points like hospitalizations, allow for a better look at the current state of the pandemic.
Some 308 individuals are currently receiving treatment for COVID-19-related illness, according to the latest available data from ADPH. That is a drop from the 636 individuals receiving care one month ago and is the lowest amount since June.
Recently, the U.S Food and Drug Administration announced updated COVID-19 booster shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that are specifically to protect against the most common and transmissible form of the virus thus far: the omicron subvariant BA.5.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37.9 percent of the state’s population have been fully vaccinated with at least one booster shot. That is the same percentage as was reported earlier this September.