Outbreak Alabama: Journalists reflect on a year of covering COVID Updated Mar 12, 2021; Posted Mar 12, 2021 AL.com journalists Joe Songer and Ivana Hrynkiw covering the opening of Buc-ee's in Leeds in January 2021. They're two of 13 journalists with Alabama Media Group who reflected on covering the COVID-19 pandemic for the past year on the "Outbreak Alabama" podcast. (Joe Songer) Facebook Share We’ve reached the 1-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic reaching Alabama. The state has had more than 500,000 cases, and more than 10,000 deaths. And as of this week, more than 1 million COVID vaccines have been administered. Now that we’re a year into this, I wanted to reflect on the pandemic through the eyes of my colleagues at AL.com, some of the best journalists in the world who have dedicated a calendar year to getting vital information about the virus and our response to the public.