Only 28 new cases in county since last Friday
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Local health officials and local residents are keeping their fingers crossed that the rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases will continue to decline.
Although the report issued at 9 a.m. Tuesday, September 8, by Escambia County Healthcare Authority showed that Alabama experienced 3,688 new cases over the past four days, only 28 of those were in Escambia County.
The new cases bring the state’s total to 132,973 confirmed cases since the pandemic began raging across Alabama. More than 2,200 (2,276) Alabama residents have died as a result of the virus.
Locally, 1,262 cases have been confirmed, with 22 deaths. Only 615 specimens have been collected over the past 14 days.
Escambia County has seen only 68 new cases since August 28, according to numbers provided by ECHCA.
Hospitals
The number of cases reported by the county’s two hospitals reflects a dramatic decrease.
Atmore Community Hospital reported an increase of just five cases, bringing ACH’s total to 545. Of 2,511 specimens collected there, the majority (1,919) have been negative. Only seven cases are pending lab results, while 40 specimens gave inconclusive results.
At D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital in Brewton, no new cases were reported over the past four days, leaving the hospital’s total at 231. DWM staff have collected 1,168 samples, with 898 of them negative, 15 still pending and 24 inconclusive.
Nursing homes
Information provided by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate that through the week ended August 23, neither of the county’s nursing homes reported any new cases, neither among residents nor staff, over the previous week.
Atmore Nursing Center’s figures stand at 35 confirmed cases among residents, with 7 deaths (not 10, as previously reported by CMS), and 23 cases among staff members.
At West Gate Village in Brewton, the numbers remained at 68 confirmed cases among residents (8 deaths) and 41 among staff.