By Joshua Huff, sports editor
MONTGOMERY — Alabama Department of Public Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris stated during a Monday afternoon news conference that the length of disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic depends on how well Alabamians adhere to guidelines and orders.
Harris said that social distancing will determine when the virus peaks in the state.
“It really depends on what Alabamians do,” Harris said. “If Alabamians are willing to engage in social distancing to avoid groups of people, stay home when they’re sick and do all the hygiene things that we talked about we’ll get through this a lot sooner rather than later.”
The press conference follows U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warning the public early Monday morning that the coronavirus outbreak is set to worsen this week as people continue to disregard guidelines and orders enacted throughout the country.
“I want America to understand this week, it’s going to get bad,” Adams said. “Right now, there are not enough people out there who are taking this seriously.”
In Alabama there have been 167 reported cases of the coronavirus with 79 in Jefferson County. Of those 167 cases, 53% of those infected are male. The age range of those infected are from 2 to 97 years of age. The median age is 44 and around 6 to 7% of patients have been hospitalized.
“Young adults and middle-aged people do get infected,” Harris said. “We may not pick them up as often because they don’t get as severe a disease.”
Harris added that testing continues to be a concern throughout the state with limited testing kits and a lack of testing sites in more rural communities.
One way to mitigate the lack of kits is for people without symptoms to not get tested. That way, the testing kits can be preserved for the elderly, the sick and the immune compromised.
“It’s very important that if you’re not symptomatic that you do not attempt to be screened,” Harris said.