Alabama Department of Public Health to release report on COVID-19 response

The Alabama Department of Public Health will present a report on the state response to the COVID-19 response at a hearing on Feb. 16.

The presentation will include a summary of measures the department and the state has taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also include internal reviews of the ADPH’s processes and policies, and an external review of other external agencies involved in the state response, said Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer.

“It’s a way of talking about all those issues, as well as giving insight into what our experiences have been,” Harris said.

Harris said the department hired Dynamus, an outside company, to assess ADPH’s response after the first three or four months of being in Alabama’s Unified Command for COVID-19 Response, which was composed of the ADPH, Alabama Emergency Management Agency, the Alabama National Guard and Alabama Forestry Commission. The agency conducted interviews and gave the unified command a report that they used as a guide as the pandemic evolved.

The department is also involved in a healthcare coalition throughout the state, which includes local healthcare organizations, hospitals, first responders and other providers. ADPH sent a group to survey these organizations in the healthcare coalition around the state to evaluate the department’s performance and their current relationship with public health.

Public officials confirmed the first COVID-19 case in Montgomery in March 2020. The CDC estimates that over 21,000 Alabamians have died from the disease.