ADPH confirms Coffee County’s first COVID-19 death

The Alabama Department of Public Health confirmed on May 13 Coffee County’s first death caused by COVID-19.

Previously the ADPH had erroneously reported a COVID-19 death in Coffee County back in April before correcting it, but both the ADPH and Coffee County EMA have confirmed this most recent case.

As of May 13, Coffee County has 158 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of the 1,192 total tests conducted. According to Coffee County EMA, of those 158 cases 106 have recovered and are no longer on quarantine. That leaves just 52 active cases in the county.

As of May 13, Medical Center Enterprise has tested a total of 165 patients with 16 confirmed cases and one pending test.

While Coffee County’s positive case numbers are higher than some of the surrounding county’s – including Houston County – Brown said that could be attributed to a number of factors.

“It’s hard to say why but we have performed almost 1,200 tests and have 153 cases,” he said. “If you look at some of the other counties, like Butler County for example, they have 230 cases and have tested 867. Each county is a little bit different and it really depends on what criteria they're using to test, how many tests they’re giving and the population.”

Brown said the county sees an average of four positive cases per day and has not seen a bump in positive cases despite an uptick in testing, especially at the Coffee County Health Department. He said that only 3/10 of 1 percent of Coffee County’s total population has been infected.

The Coffee County Health Department is currently providing free testing to those with symptoms on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week. Tuesday testing is done from 1 until 5 p.m. and Thursday testing is done from 7:30 until 11 a.m. at 2841 Neal Metcalf Road in Enterprise.