Story by: Carlee Loyd

While hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens are dealing with economic stress due to the coronavirus, Alabama may have fared better than other states, according to recent reports.

The Commerce Department stated the U.S. economy decreased by 3.5% in 2020, the worst decline in nearly 75 years.

However, Alabama actually saw some economic growth in late 2020. The Alabama Department of Revenue says after underperforming in March and April 2020, Alabama’s tax collections from May through September improved in general sales and motor fuels in the last five months of last year.

Nationally, the Labor Department says 847,000 more Americans filed for unemployment for the first time last week, due primarily to COVID-19 and its impact on businesses across the country.

Yet, Alabama just ranked sixth among states with the best unemployment recovery rate, according to a recent study published by WalletHub. The Alabama Department of of Labor announced on Jan. 22 that Alabama’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.9% last month, down from 4.4% in November. That still means nearly 26,000 Alabamians are out of work, though.

Due to job losses, calls are coming in to speed up the process of distributing and administrating the vaccines. The White House says this process could take months.

Dr. Ashish Jha from Brown University of Public Health said, “We’re the United States of America. We should be leading and doing a fabulous job. We’re not yet, and I think we should push our political leaders to do even better.”

The CDC ranked Alabama third from the bottom in vaccine distribution last week, but Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said the state is working to increase the number of vaccines distributed.

For more information about what the Alabama Department of Health is doing on the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination sites or the COVID-19 vaccine hotline, visit the ADPH website.