Nearly 1,000 more COVID-19 cases confirmed

Another day, another rise in COVID-19 cases.

Alabama saw nearly 1,000 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

As of 12:50 p.m. Saturday, there have been 997 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state, coming to a cumulative number of 42,359.

Additionally, there are 503 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.

In the last 14 days, there have been 12,806 new confirmed cases with 122,633 tests given, according to what ADPH is currently reporting. 

ADPH's risk indicator dashboard shows Tallapoosa, Coosa and Elmore Counties all at moderate risk level. Calculations for each county’s risk of COVID-19 spread in the community is based on number of new cases each day. The number of new cases each day is calculated with a rolling 3-day average to account for fluctuations in reporting, according to ADPH.

ADPH explained the following about the categories:

• If the number of cases is staying the same or is increasing, the category will be Very High Risk (Red).
• If a county has decreasing case counts for 1 to 6 days, they will begin in the High Risk (orange) category.
• If a county is in a downward trajectory of 7 to 13 days, they will begin in the Moderate (yellow) category.
• If a county is in a downward trajectory of 14 or more days (or has a rate of 10 or less over the previous 2 weeks), they will begin in the Low Risk (green) category.

Tallapoosa County added five new cases in the last day, now at 588 confirmed cases. Tallapoosa County has 69 COVID-19 deaths to rank No. 4 for most deaths in the state. There are seven probable cases in Tallapoosa County and one probable death.

ADPH's 14-day count-specific data shows Tallapoosa County has seen 78 new cases and 1,078 tested.

Coosa County is still at 58 cumulative cases and one confirmed death. There are no probable deaths or cases. There have been nine new cases and 137 tested in the last two weeks, according to ADPH.

Elmore County's added 39 new cases in the last day to be at 864 confirmed cases and 14 COVID-19 deaths. There are 12 probable cases in Elmore County and zero probable deaths. ADPH's 14-day county-specific data shows Elmore County has seen 244 new cases and 1,982 tested in the last two weeks.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been 441,585 tests performed throughout the state, according to ADPH. A total of 529 have been tested in Coosa County, 6,984 in Elmore County and 4,968 in Tallapoosa County.

Statewide, there have been 984 deaths due to COVID-19 and 23 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 Wednesday, 22,082 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."

There have been 2,906 hospitalizations across the state since March 13, according to ADPH.

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 around noon each day.

Here is the latest information in all counties as of 12:50 p.m. Saturday: