7 Things: ADPH changes how it counts COVID-19 cases, data will guide reopening, tax revenues take a beating on all levels and more …

7. The travel ban wasn’t effective but going to Chinatown was

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) newest complaint against President Donald Trump during the coronavirus pandemic is about his claims that his travel ban with China helped prevent the spread of the coronavirus when she attempted to pass a law forbidding the ban and referred to it as “biased and bigoted.”
Additionally, Pelosi said “tens of thousands of people were allowed in from China, it wasn’t as it was described as this great moment,” adding that “if you’re going to shut the door because you have an evaluation because of an epidemic, then shut the door.”

6. Democrats don’t have to answer Biden sexual assault questions

In a clear case of obvious double-standards and media bias, not one Democrat, including one openly lobbying to be Joe Biden’s vice president, was asked on Sunday’s talk shows about the recent accusation of sexual harassment or the unearthing of the accuser’s mother calling “Larry King Live” in 1993 to discuss her daughter’s problems with then-U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE).
This contrasts to the media frenzy over any and all scurrilous allegations against now-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh by these same individuals. In fact, most of the shows didn’t even mention the CNN tape, and CNN went as far as removing the episode from the Google Play store.

5. We might not be out of the woods yet

Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Tom Inglesby said that the United States has “reached a plateau” with the coronavirus and we’re “near the end of the beginning of this pandemic.”
While Vice President Mike Pence has said that he thinks the country will be mostly through the pandemic by Memorial Day weekend, Inglesby said that a majority of the country is still seeing an increase in cases every day. He added that being through this by the end of May is unlikely.

4. County officials are asking for flexibility in reopening

Officials from Elmore and Autauga Counties are requesting that Governor Kay Ivey allow “local governments” flexibility on reopening their economies, guaranteeing that they’d still follow CDC guidelines on reopening.
Elmore Mayor Margaret White, Deatsville Mayor Clayton Edgar, Eclectic Mayor Gary Davenport, Millbrook Mayor Al Kelley, Coosada Mayor Anthony Powell, Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis, Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie and Tallassee Mayor Johnny Hammock, and the County Commission Chairman from Elmore and Autauga all signed the letter sent to Ivey.

3. Tax revenue for Alabama, its counties and cities will be hit

Fear of what the coronavirus pandemic will do to budgets in Alabama is hitting citizens and governments alike. There is currently a fear the state could see the largest year-t0-year decline in tax revenue for April in state history, according to State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur).
The view is dire for individual municipalities as well. The coronavirus pandemic is expected to cause $15-20 million in losses for Huntsville, but Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle has said the government is “going to make it.”

2. Dates won’t determine a reopening for Alabama

State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris has said that there isn’t a specific date the state is looking at to reopen, but they’re following White House guidelines and examining the data. Governor Kay Ivey is making it clear that she will be opening the state in phases rather than all at once.
Harris said that they “want to see a certain decline in cases over a couple of weeks period,” adding that they’re “trying to look at the data we have and just trying to make the best decisions we can.”

1. Anyone who tests positive for coronavirus and dies is listed as a coronavirus death, no matter the actual cause

The Alabama Department of Public Health altered how they count coronavirus deaths to follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention National Vital Statistics System, which the ADPH explained on Twitter.
The ADPH was met with the question that if someone tested positive for the virus, but then hit by a bus and died, would it still count as a coronavirus death. The ADPH said, “CDC has advised that persons who test positive for COVID-19 and die are to be counted as a COVID-19 death. Persons whose death certificates report COVID-19 as a cause of death are to be counted as a COVID-19 death.”