COVID-19 death now confirmed in all 67 Alabama counties

GENEVA COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - Alabama marked another COVID-19 milestone Sunday when the Alabama Department of Public Health’s data revealed a death in Geneva County.

That death means each of the state’s 67 counties has now been suffered at least one death due to the pandemic.

Geneva County’s death, of which no details are available, brings the state’s death toll to 1,707.

The rural southeast Alabama county that borders Florida is accustomed to being last when it comes to COVID-19. It took nearly a month once the virus began spreading around the state for it to show up in the isolated county with a population of just 26,000.

“We all agree that Geneva County is just lucky,” said Geneva Mayor Frankie Lindsey during an interview in April that profiled the county in its lonesome stand. “That is neither a positive reflection of our good health nor a negative reflection of our testing capabilities. It is simply the outcome of living in a rural area with relatively little interstate commerce. We’re blessed by God’s grace and a lot of luck.”

On April 8, ADPH moved Geneva County into the COVID-19 bracket with its 66 neighbors. At that time, Alabama had approximately 2,000 confirmed cases of the disease. As of Sunday, the cases were at nearly 100,000.

As the pandemic spreads, Geneva County continues to see few confirmed cases and has reported just 261 so far. That’s about one-quarter of one percent of the state’s total.

To date, 22 counties have fewer than 10 deaths. Only three, including Jefferson, Mobile and Montgomery counties have topped 100, and those three counties account for 35 percent of all fatalities.

Besides Geneva, just two other counties, Lawrence and Cleburne, have reported only a single death. But Geneva may soon leave those counties behind. In addition to Sunday’s confirmed death, ADPH says a second death is probable.

ADPH has developed a dashboard on the state’s COVID-19 data. More features can be accessed by clicking here.

The ADPH also provides a color-code map showing the risk indicator for each of the state’s 67 counties. You can also view more details on each county by clicking here.