From The Tribune staff reports
MONTGOMERY — During a Thursday press conference, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey extended the Safer At Home Order until Oct. 2, which means the mask mandate will continue for another five weeks.
“Let me again thank the people of Alabama for your patience, support, and efforts to work together to get through these tough days,” said Ivey. “I know you don’t want to wear masks, it’s hard to understand each other, but our hospitalization numbers continue to drop and I have no doubt that’s because of wearing masks.”
The Governor was joined at the podium alongside Chief State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris.
“We are cautiously optimistic of what we are seeing lately,” said Harris. “Since we started the mask mandate, the case numbers and deaths are coming down and hospitalizations are lower than anytime since before July 4.”
Ivey said she is encouraged by the downward trending coronavirus numbers across Alabama, but asks Alabamians to remain cautious during the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
“We’re making such good progress doing what we’ve been doing and we need to keep it up, especially because we’re coming into a holiday weekend,” said Ivey. “The temptation to gather in crowds of more than 10 is upon us and we just need to be extra cautious. We’ve made a lot of progress and we don’t want to lose any of the ground that we’ve already made.”