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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

The last seven days in Shelby County have been some of the worst in the battle against COVID-19 since the novel coronavirus saw its first case in the state back on March 13.

In the county alone there have been 142 new cases in that span, bringing the total to 779 confirmed cases, while there have been two new deaths.  That number of 142 new cases tops the previous seven-day high of 116 set three weeks ago.

A big reason for that increase was due to a three-day span last week that saw 23, 30 and 31 new cases between Tuesday and Thursday. That marked a span where there were 20 or more new cases in six of seven days. Numbers, however, have started to decrease since then with three consecutive days of less than 20 cases. On Friday, the number of new cases decreased to 14, while Saturday saw five and Sunday saw 16.

The state total is now at 30,031, which actually isn’t as drastic as the previous seven days. The week before there was an increase of 5,059 cases, while this last week there was an increase of 4,796. The state’s death total is now at 831, which is an increase of 63 in the last week and also down from 80 the week before.

That’s a more positive sign as people continue to get back to normal with people flooding back to normal of going out for the first time in three months.

That means more people are being exposed, but despite that exposure leading to more positive tests, the survival rate still remains extremely high at 97.2 percent both in the county and across the state.

Since the state saw 934 cases during the day on June 17, there has been a steady decrease down to less than 500 in the last couple of days.

So far, there have been 14,457 people tested in Shelby County, an increase of 2,005 in the last seven days, which was close to 300 more tests than the previous week. That means 5.3 percent of those tested are getting back positive results, while 0.35 percent of the county’s population has tested positive and 6.6 percent of the county’s population has been tested.

Across the state, 348,687 people have now been tested, which is an increase of 51,612 in the last seven days. The state has seen 8.6 percent of those tested receive a positive test, while 7.11 percent of the population in the state has been tested and 0.6 percent of the state’s population has had a confirmed case.

Over the last 14 days, the state has seen 8,986 new cases and 94,333 new tests administered, while Shelby County has seen 221 new cases and 3,830 tested.

The demographic of those getting the virus marks a higher number in the 25-49 age range with that group making up 41.52 percent of all cases, while those between the ages of 50 and 64 make up 21.44 percent of cases and those 65 and older make up 18.83 percent of cases. Combining the 25-64 age range, that group makes up 62.96 percent of all cases.

In deaths, however, the number of those between the ages of 25 and 49 is at 4.2 percent, while 17.2 percent are between the ages of 50 and 64. The majority of deaths continue to come from those older than 65 marking 78.1 percent of all deaths.

Another key number in the state’s fight against the virus is that there have been 15,974 “presumed recoveries.” That means more than half of the state’s positive cases since the virus have already recovered.

So far, there have been 2,471 hospitalizations, meaning 8.2 percent of those with a positive case end up in the hospital, while 725 (2.4 percent) have been put in the intensive care unit and 424 (1.4 percent) have been placed on ventilators.

In addition to that, 2,166 long-term care residents and 1,348 long-term care employees have tested positive for the virus.

If you think you have been exposed or have symptoms of COVID-19, please isolate and call your doctor or nearest medical facility for guidance or call the Alabama Department of Public Health hotline at 1-888-264-2256.

For more information about COVID-19, visit Alabamapublichealth.gov/infectiousdiseases/2019-coronavirus.

To view an updated dashboard of confirmed cases and see testing sites, visit Alpublichealth.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7

Continue to follow throughout this week for daily updates to see if the upward trend continues in relation to the number of tests administered.