Photo courtesy UAB Media Relations
COVID-19 drive-through testing
A test being administered recently at a drive-through COVID-19 testing facility located near UAB.
The city of Birmingham and the state of Alabama remain under shelter-in-place orders to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus at least until April 30.
However, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin — during his press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, April 21 — did not say whether that order will be extended locally.
“That decision has not been determined,” Woodfin said.
“We will work closely with our public health officials to make the best decisions to keep us safe while taking the next steps to address the economic crisis that COVID-19 has created,” the mayor said.
He also said that “it’s important to balance this health crisis and this economic crisis.”
The extent of COVID-19’s economic impact on the city will be more clear very soon as tax receipts for March are counted, Woodfin said.
The mayor also said that it’s important for him as an elected official “to do less talking and more listening” to such “health experts” as Dr. Mark Wilson of the Jefferson County Department of Health (JCDH).
“I think it’s important that there be no distance” between Wilson and the city, Woodfin said.
Appearing at the press conference with Woodfin was Dr. Wesley Willeford, the medical director of communicable diseases at the JCDH.
Willeford said that it is critical that people practice proper hygiene and maintain social distancing because COVID-19 is “highly contagious” and because we currently lack either a vaccine or “well-proven treatments” for it.
“We have seen what this virus is capable of with unchecked spread,” he said, referring to the growing death toll in the United States.
“Our only tool right now to prevent this is separation and distance from others,’ he said.
“We have to limit the number of interactions we have with people outside our household,” Willeford said.
There is some good news, but citizens should stay the course, he said.
“The numbers of new cases each day do continue to decrease, and that is in part due to the social distancing efforts and the hard work of our community,” Willeford said. “The best tool at our disposal is to starve the virus of the opportunity to cause infection.”
Woodfin also stressed the importance of all city residents obeying the social distancing requirements currently in place.
“Staying at home, we know, reduces the spread of COVID-19,” he said. “Staying at home of course saves lives. Staying at home reduces the potential for overwhelming our hospital and healthcare workers.”
Woodfin said that he and the mayors of the other nine largest cities in the state continue to talk to each other and to the state government and to share information about the pandemic.
“I believe if elected officials actually listen to our health experts, I am more than confident that we can strike a balance between this healthcare crisis and this economic crisis,” Woodfin said.
