HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Wear your mask.
If you've had a COVID-19 test, quarantine at home until you get your results.
Wear your mask. Do your part to keep the state open.
Huntsville and Madison County leaders addressed the latest COVID-19 numbers.
With the Madison County mask mandate in place for more than three weeks, Dr. Pam Hudson with Crestwood Hospital says that they are watching the trends, but the masking strategy seems to be working. She said she knows that we will not get to zero, but the goal is to reduce transmission and not stress the health care system. People need to keep wearing their masks and not become complacent.
As for enforcement, Madison mayor Paul Finley described an email he got claiming that masks were not being worn at Lowe's. When law enforcement went to investigate, they found only a couple of shoppers without masks. Two were leaving the premises, and the other, when asked to put their mask on, complied. All employees were masked. He used this as an example of how complaints and enforcement are being handled, and how people are cooperating.
Mayor Finley discussed Governor Ivey's extension of the mask mandate and safer-at-home order. He said that she is doing her best to keep businesses open and people safe, and that current downward trends are important to keeping the state open.
As an example of the impact on businesses, Mayor Finley shared the struggles that U.S. Space and Rocket Center is having due to the pandemic, and how they are raising money to #savespacecamp. Both Finley and Hudson said that people need to continue to do their part to reduce the chance of another business shutdown.
When asked about rapid testing in nursing homes, Dr. Hudson said that the benefit of these is determining who has the illness so that they can be monitored and separated for those without the illness. Mayor Finley said that this is being looked at for nursing homes in our area.
The biggest takeaway: People need to do their part to reduce the transmission rate. This means wearing masks, practicing social distancing, practicing good hygiene, and following rules about testing and quarantine.