Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday issued her twenty-sixth supplemental emergency proclamation transitioning the state from an amended Safer at Home Order to a new Safer Apart Order, the third phase of COVID-19 pandemic health orders. Masks will no longer be mandated statewide, but individuals are strongly encouraged to wear a mask or other facial covering when in public and in close contact with other people. This order goes into effect at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 9, 2021 and extends until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.

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What does pooled testing mean?

To save supplies, especially in situations where resources are limited, and test more people, pooled testing may be implemented. Pooled testing means taking samples from multiple people, storing part of each sample individually, and combining the other part of each sample into batches, or pools, and then testing each pool. This allows many more people to be tested in an initial round of testing than tests that do not use pools, and then for any pool that indicates a positive result, the samples that contributed to that pool can be tested individually to identify the positive people.

Drafted 22 April 2020