By Joshua Huff, sports editor
MONTGOMERY – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has announced a statewide stay-at-home order effective at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 4, 2020, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The order states that people need to remain at home except to perform “essential activities.”
This follows as the number of reported deaths in Alabama have climbed to more than 30 with the number of positive cases now over 1,000.
“You need to understand we are past urging people to stay at home,” Ivey said during a press conference on Friday. “It is now the law.”
The order reads that people can only leave their place of residence to perform any of the following:
- To obtain necessary supplies.
- To obtain or provide necessary services.
- To attend religious services.
- To take care of others.
- To engage in outdoor activity.
- To seek shelter.
- To travel as required by law.
- To see family members.
A more detailed explanation of each activity can be found by clicking on the above link colored in red.
Alabama now joins 30 other states throughout the country that have ordered a statewide shelter in place. Republican governors in Florida, Mississippi and Georgia on Wednesday reversed course and issued stay-home directives after previously resisting such a statewide order.
Ivey had previously ordered the closure of non-essential businesses, closed beaches, on-site restaurant dining and schools, but has stopped short of a statewide shelter-in-place or stay-home order. As a result, she has drawn harsh criticism from members of her own government, citizens and the media.
Alabama Sen. Doug Jones said Thursday he believed the state should issue a statewide stay-home order, as other states have done, to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
“I would like to see one because it sends a strong message to the people of Alabama about how significant it is to use the social distancing, to use whatever means necessary to stop the spread of this virus,” Jones said during a news conference conducted via Facebook.
The Alabama lieutenant governor this past Wednesday criticized the state’s lack of preparation and response for what is expected to be a surge in coronavirus patients in the coming weeks and months.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth sent off a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey’s COVID-19 response team in an effort to bring light to their lack of preparation to the growing number of cases that have already begun to strain the health care industry. The letter, obtained by the Alabama Political Reporter, is highly critical of Alabama’s response to what Ainsworth believes will soon be a “tsunami” of coronavirus patients in state hospitals.
“A tsunami of hospital patients is likely to fall upon Alabama in the not too distant future, and it is my opinion that this task force and the state are not taking a realistic view of the numbers or adequately preparing for what awaits us,” Ainsworth wrote. “Every health specialist with whom I have spoken is anxious about surge capacity and has expressed doubts about our preparations.”
Ivey said that by Thursday afternoon she knew that more needed to be done to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
“Folks, April stands to be very tough, and potentially very deadly,” Ivey said.