Masking, Alcohol Policy Helping Mitigate Spread

Sophia Borrelli was in downtown Huntsville after Mayor Tommy Battle shared his concerns about college students.

And i'm dan shaffer.

But - high school football games aren't the only areas health experts say we need to be more cautious.

Today - the c-e-o of huntsville hospital and huntsville mayor tommy battle shared their concerns about college students heading to the bars after they return to campus.

Waay 31's sophia borrelli is live in downtown huntsville with what they had to say.... and why they think the situation in huntsville is under control.

Sophia?

Right now - establishments like these have to stop serving alcohol at 11 at night.

- mayor tommy battle says he believes that - paired with the masking mandate from the governor - has contributed to the success of not seeing a spike in coronavirus cases in the county.

Tommy battle, city of huntsville mayor: "i think we are on the right track at this time.

Tuscaloosa had a little bit more of a problem than we had, especially with the college students coming back to campus.

I think that they're steps were probably very appropriate steps just because of the intensity that they were seeing of people getting together and the probability of having spiked cases in the next 10 to 15 days."

Huntsville hospital ceo david spillers says - seeing pictures and video like this out of tuscaloosa - does make him worry about the number of coronavirus cases - those communities may see in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

David spillers, huntsville hospital ceo: "little concerned about what we see in the communities that have large universities.

You all saw the pictures.

Hard to imagine that's not going to lead to an increase in positive cases in those communities.

Mayor battle says he has spoken to local bar and restaurant owners and says they know the severity of not following current guidelines.

Tommy battle, city of huntsville mayor: "our restaurants and lounges have taken this very seriously.

They understand this is a licensing issue.

Abc holds their license if they don't comply with it, abc will pull their license and every one of them that we have talked to or had conversation with have followed through very well on this."

Huntsville hospital's c-e-o said he expects to see a spike in cases on some campuses - but said he hopes college students won't become sick enough to overwhelm hospital