Alabama Notes

When Alabama reports no data, several days of data, or unusual data (such as decreases in values that should increase), our volunteers note it here on the date the anomaly occurred. We also note here changes in our own methodology that affect the data.

Alabama combines PCR and antigen tests in the total tests figure reported on the state's dashboard.

Negative test results reported in our API and CSVs are calculated by subtracting Confirmed cases from Total PCR tests (specimens) in the absence of better data.

On March 3, 2021, Alabama announced that the Alabama Department of Public Health processed 2114 positive PCR test results from tests preformed since May, 2020 on March 1, 2021. These test results will be included in the Confirmed cases and Cases (confirmed + probable) reported on March 3, 2021.

On February 6, 2021, Alabama's Total antibody tests (people) decreased from 140,376 to 108,818 without explanation.

On February 5, 2021, Alabama announced that they were experiencing a technical issue with their testing data. As a result, we were unable to update their Total antibody tests (people), Total PCR tests (people), and Negative PCR tests (people), which is calculated as Total PCR tests (people) minus Confirmed cases.

On February 02, 2021, Alabama reported a large increase in Total antibody tests (people) of approximately 33,000 without explanation. Additionally, Total PCR tests (people) decreased by approximately 11,000 without explanation, resulting in a decrease in Negative PCR tests (people).

On January 30, 2021, Alabama noted on their data dashboard that due to maintenance and upgrades, the Alabama NEDSS Base System did not run on the evening of January 29, 2021, and as as result there would be no update to their dashboard on January 30, 2021. We were only able to update their Currently hospitalized and Ever hospitalized on January 30, 2021.

On January 22, 2021, Alabama noted that the Alabama Department of Public Health processed a backlog of 409 positive PCR tests dating back to November 19, 2020 through January 20, 2021, and that these tests would be included in their Confirmed cases and Cases (confirmed + probable) for January 22, 2021. As a result, not all new cases reported on January 22, 2021 were reported within the previous 24 hour period.

On January 13, 2021, Alabama reported that it is reviewing a large number of deaths from the Alabama Center for Health Statistics (ACHS), an endeavor which began on November 11, 2020 and will continue until further notice. As a result, death numbers during this time period reported may include historic deaths and may not accurately reflect new COVID-19 deaths. We urge caution when interpreting these numbers, and encourage the use of 7 and 14-day averages as more reliable metrics.

On January 5, 2021, Alabama noted on their COVID-19 dashboard that the cases reported on January 5, 2021 were high due to a delay in testing and reporting over the holiday weekend. On January 7, 2021, they noted that cases and deaths reported through the week of January 7, 2021, may be affected by holiday related reporting delays. We urge caution in using figures from this time period, and encourage the use of 7 and 14-day averages as more reliable metrics.

On December 18, 2020, Alabama announced that a backlog of 382 positive PCR test results from December 10, 2020 through December 13, 2020 will be classified as being reported on December 17, 2020.

On December 15, 2020, Alabama announced that a backlog of 59 positive PCR tests and 479 positive antigen tests from September 29, 2020 through December 14, 2020 would be included in their data for December 15, 2020.

On December 12, 2020, Alabama announced that they processed a backlog of 398 positive antigen tests from July 7, 2020 through December 9, 2020. These positive tests will be reported in Alabama’s Probable Cases and Cases (confirmed + probable) on December 12, 2020.

On December 12, 2020 through December 13, 2020, Alabama did not update their testing data by the time of our daily update. As a result, we were unable to update Total antibody tests (people), Total PCR tests (people), and Negative PCR tests (people), which is calculated from Total PCR tests (people) minus Confirmed cases.

On December 9, 2020, Alabama processed a backlog of positive PCR and antigen test results from October 5, 2020 through December 7, 2020. This backlog makes up roughly 10% of Cases (confirmed + probable) reported on December 10, 2020.

On December 3, 2020, Alabama announced that: "The Alabama Department of Public Health processed two backlogs totaling 1038 positive PCR results and 473 positive antigen results from two facilities on December 7. These will be classified as 1038 confirmed cases and 473 probable cases reported on 12/08/20 even though the tests were performed during November 30 through December 5, 2020."

As of December 2, 2020, Alabama's total test results are drawn from our totalTestsPeopleViral field instead of totalTestsViral. Before that, as of September 18, 2020, Alabama's total test results were switched to draw from our totalTestsViral field instead of being calculated via positive+negative. The timeseries are the same, but previously, Alabama's units had been unclear, and therefore we stored the series in our specimens field.

On December 2, 2020, Alabama announced that a backlog of 706 positive PCR tests performed from November 23, 2020 through November 29, 2020 would be included in their daily update for December 2, 2020.

On December 1, 2020, Alabama announced that increased new case and death counts are due to delayed data from Thanksgiving.

On November 25, 2020, Alabama announced that the Alabama Department of Public Health Infection Disease and Outbreak team reviewed their electronic disease surveillance system and “updated some parameters”. As a result, Recovered increased by roughly 71k on November 25, 2020.

On November 14, 2020, Alabama announced that a backlog of 109 positive antigen results would be reported as probable cases on November 14, 2020. As a result, new Probable cases reported on November 14, 2020 were not all reported in the previous 24 hour period.

On November 11, 2020, Alabama announced via their dashboard that they have begun a review process for deaths from the Alabama Center for Health Statistics (ACHS). According to Alabama, at least half of the Deaths (confirmed and probable) reported today (81 in total) are from this review. More deaths may be added from this review in the coming days.

On November 10, 2020 Alabama’s Total PCR tests (specimens) decreased by roughly 700 without explanation.

On October 21, 2020, Alabama did not update their COVID-19 dashboard due to "technical issues".

On September 1, 2020, Alabama began displaying the number of people tested by antibody, over 50,000 individuals, separately from its main total tested field, which it clarified represents antigen and PCR testing. Its main total tested number dropped by over 25,000 the same day. We have reached out to the Alabama Department of Public Health to confirm this drop was due to the removal of the individuals tested by antibody.

On July 11, 2020, Alabama began using direct reports from hospitals for cumulative hospitalizations (which we report in our Ever hospitalized metric), rather than state case surveillance. Its number of cumulative hospitalizations increased by over 3,000 as a result.