Hospitalizations spike as state adds more than 1,600 new COVID-19 cases

More than 1,600 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the last day and hospitalizations have spiked over the weekend, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

There have been 52,908 cumulatively confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 1,614 in the last 24 hours.

Additionally, there are 679 probable cases in the state.

According to ADPH's website, probable cases are the total number of patients who have had close contact with a confirmed case, have symptoms meeting clinical criteria of COVID-19 and have no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19.

Hospitlizations have doubled over the weekend, according to ADPH. There have been 6,745 hospitalizations across the state since March 13, according to ADPH. This is an additional 3,656 hospitalizations reported since Friday.

In the last 14 days, there have been 16,520 new confirmed cases and 145,964 tested.

Tallapoosa County added two new cases in the last 24 hours, now at 630 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Tallapoosa County has 69 COVID-19 deaths to rank No. 4 for most deaths in the state. There are 10 probable cases in Tallapoosa County and one probable death. ADPH's 14-day count-specific data shows Tallapoosa County has seen 76 new cases and 1,156 tested in the last two weeks. 

Coosa County added one new case, now at 66 cumulative cases and one confirmed death. There are no probable deaths or cases. There have been 12 new cases and 164 tested in the last two weeks in Coosa County, according to ADPH.

Elmore County's added 38 new cases in the last day, now at 1,067 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 21 COVID-19 deaths. There are 19 probable cases in Elmore County and zero probable deaths. ADPH's 14-day county-specific data shows Elmore County has seen 268 new cases 2,363 tested in the last two weeks.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been 510,827 tests performed throughout the state, according to ADPH. As of Wednesday afternoon, a total of 614 had been tested in Coosa County, 8,089 in Elmore County and 5,496 in Tallapoosa County.

Statewide, there have been 1,093 deaths due to COVID-19 and 28 probable deaths, according to ADPH.

Confirmed and probable deaths represent patients who have a death certificate that lists COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. Confirmed deaths have a laboratory confirmation of the disease while probable deaths have no confirmatory laboratory testing performed for COVID-19.

According to ADPH's presumed recoveries category, which will be updated weekly and was updated Thursday, 25,783 people statewide have presumably recovered from COVID-19.

"Cases are presumed recovered if it has been 14 days or more since the case tested positive if they were not hospitalized, or if it has been 32 days or more since the case tested positive if they were hospitalized or if hospitalization was unknown," ADPH wrote in a Facebook post. "All deaths excluded."

All data can be viewed here. ADPH's dashboard is updated around 10 a.m. each day and Tallapoosa Publishers publishes a report detailing all information each afternoon.

Here is the latest information in all counties as of 2 p.m. Sunday: