Alabama has recorded more than 20,000 deaths of COVID-19.
The Alabama Department of Public Health reported the state had crossed that grisly milestone during its weekly COVID update on Thursday. The state added 56 new deaths during that update, bringing the official total to 20,026 dead since the start of the pandemic.
That’s an average of 23 deaths per day in the 870 days since March 25, 2020, when the state reported its first virus death.
Alabama has reported more deaths due to the virus than Australia or Switzerland, nearly twice as many as Israel or Taiwan, and about 12 times more than New Zealand.
The state is also poised to cross 1.5 million total cases reported since March 2020 – certainly a vast undercount. That official number is roughly one case for every three people in Alabama.
The news comes as Alabama’s current COVID mini-wave appears to be plateauing, or possibly even receding. The state posted a 7-day positivity rate of 27% on Thursday, down from nearly 30% in recent weeks.
And the number of patients in Alabama hospitals also appears to be coming down. ADPH reported 630 COVID-positive patients in Alabama hospitals as of Wednesday, down from 738 on July 25.