Alabama’s Largest City Tightens Restrictions To Stem Spread Of Coronavirus

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2020/04/Command_Center-3.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:4796;s:6:"height";i:3192;s:4:"file";s:28:"2020/04/Command_Center-3.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-336x224.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:224;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-768x511.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:511;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-771x513.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:513;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"Command_Center-3-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-300x300.jpg";s:5:"width";i:300;s:6:"height";i:300;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-467x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:467;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-398x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:398;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:28:"Command_Center-3-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:3:"5.6";s:6:"credit";s:9:"Lexi Coon";s:6:"camera";s:9:"NIKON D4S";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:10:"1585732835";s:9:"copyright";s:24:"UAB University Relations";s:12:"focal_length";s:3:"300";s:3:"iso";s:4:"5000";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:7:"0.00625";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => University of Alabama at Birmingham
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

)
1654872498 
1585921162

By Debbie Elliott

After working for weeks to prepare for the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Mustafa Ahmed is now fighting his own case of COVID-19.

“For me it was just like being hit by a train,” he says.

Ahmed is an interventional cardiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a major medical hub for the state. Now, Alabama’s largest city is under a shelter-in-place order, as city leaders here have taken a more aggressive approach than the state officials have in order to curtail the spread of the disease.

Ahmed’s symptoms came on fast — intense headache, fever, muscle aches and fatigue.

“It’s a scary thing when you get this because you’re seeing colleagues and health care workers around the world really struck down with this,” Ahmed says.

He’s 38 and had been in good health. Now he’s in single room isolation at home, using technology to connect remotely with family around the world, and his colleagues at UAB.

Because of a lack of widespread testing, he says there’s no way to pinpoint how he became infected.

“Is it from just walking around?” he asks. “Is it on the way into work? Is it people you passed the week before that don’t want to social distance?”

Universal questions, Ahmed says, that could only be answered with universal testing, something that’s not possible right now.

“This is a weekly moving target,” he says.

He says testing at UAB has expanded from weeks ago when tests were scarce and results took days to process. Now results are back in hours, and there’s promise of a more rapid test.

“Where we are right now, this minute is a long, long — what’s the best way to say this? — is a hell of a lot better than where we were this time last week,” Ahmed says.

Regardless of the testing capacity, there’s no question that there’s community spread happening in Birmingham right now. UAB and other local hospitals started getting their first wave of severe cases last week.

“We’re just starting and it’s going to get much, much worse, says Ahmed.

The prospect has city leaders trying to get the word out.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has been holding tele-town halls to relay a sense of urgency to various communities including neighborhood and church leaders, students, and Spanish speakers.

Woodfin says when 12 days of voluntary social distancing didn’t work, the city adopted a shelter-in-place ordinance.

“To lock this city down,” Woodfin says. “To stop [nonessential] movement because we needed to take every measure to prevent community spread.”

The action is at odds with state policy.

“I do not think our economy needs a full shelter-in-place order,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said at a press briefing. “My word of caution to those who want to take a more direct action is this – government can choke businesses.”

Mayor Woodfin disputes that it’s an either/or proposition.

“If government doesn’t take action, it can also cost people their lives,” he says.

Dr. Ahmed at UAB agrees, and says nowhere in the world are health officials saying they did too much.

“No one,” he says. “Every single place seems to have wished that they did more and acted earlier.”

 

Is all this talk of recession indicators a sign a recession is coming?

For generations, people have looked for small, informal signs that a recession is coming or already here. This phenomenon recently exploded on social media, often in joke form.

Why knowing your neighbors can be an important climate solution

Earthaven Ecovillage fared remarkably well after Hurricane Helene. The community had backup power and water systems, as well as food supplies, but members also knew how to work together in a crisis.

5 dark tales hit shelves this week

Sometimes all it takes to make your day a little brighter is to remind yourself just how dark life can get. Here are four dark novels and a true crime tale.

By removing invasive bullfrogs, scientists help Yosemite’s native turtles recover

The huge amphibians "will literally just feed on anything that fits into their mouth" — including turtle hatchlings. Clearing thousands of frogs from ponds helped other species stage a comeback.

K-pop group BTS set to reunite as two more members complete military service

BTS has been on a break since June 2022 to focus on solo projects and serve in the South Korean military. All of the group's members are scheduled to finish mandatory enlistment by the end of June.

‘Day of the Jackal’ author Frederick Forsyth dies at 86

Born in 1938, Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before becoming a journalist. He covered the attempted assassination of French President Charles de Gaulle, which inspired The Day of the Jackal.

More Coronavirus Coverage