During the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, the Alabama Policy Institute quickly became the loudest voice in the state for balanced and fair measures to address the COVID-19 crisis.

As states began to shut down their local economies, API stressed the need for a coherent and coordinated approach to closing Alabama and, in time, opening it again. API highlighted the unfair practice of allowing big box stores to operate while small businesses (which sold some of the same products) were required to close. API strongly emphasized the importance of clear benchmarks in reopening the state, which would provide both the general public and business with glimmers of hope, expectations for the future, and the wherewithal to stay the course that health officials recommended.

In fact, API provided eight op-eds in the first month of the crisis that were published in all of the state’s largest newspapers and online news sources. In that same month, API produced seven podcast episodes, including interviews with Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and fellow Senate candidate and former football coach Tommy Tuberville on their views of the government’s response to COVID-19. API also released the report, “COVID-19 in Alabama: A Primer on the Impacts of Coronavirus on the State,” and sent copies to state legislators so they could see the true impacts, both of the virus and our response to it, on the state.