Just put this in an email, and thought it might be useful to post here:

The current rate of new infections in Tuscaloosa county is about 30 new per day per 100,000 people, Alabama is at about 37. The peak rate in New York state back in April was about 50 and in New York City about 75. It does appear from the last week that we have plateaued a little, and hopefully the fact that a mask mandate has been put in place in Alabama about a week and a half ago will start to at least keep things from getting worse. But that is not clear yet. I am hopeful that we will come back from the brink, but it is quite tenuous right now. Guidelines (https://covidlocal.org/metrics/) specify a new infection rate generally falling and below 25 for backing off from stay-at-home, and an indoor activity like classes at the university (even with masks and distancing) is only recommended with an infection rate below 10.