Five days after announcing that he tested positive for the coronavirus, Birmingham, Ala., Mayor Randall Woodfin has been hospitalized with COVID-19 complications. The announcement came just days after Woodfin lost his grandmother to the disease.
“COVID-19 has made its way to my doorstep,” wrote Woodfin in a Wednesday tweet revealing that he was suffering from mild symptoms of the coronavirus. Two days later, on January 1, the first-term mayor’s grandmother succumbed after a prolonged battle with the illness.
On Monday evening, Woodfin was admitted to a Birmingham hospital for symptoms associated with COVID-related pneumonia.
Alabama ranks among the worst 10 states for the coronavirus, with a positivity test rate of 40 percent, one of the worst in the nation, the Associated Press reports. In Birmingham, hospital beds are at 95 percent capacity and county health officials report 624 deaths in the last 7 days.
Woodfin’s staff told The Root that the mayor was resting comfortably.