Coronavirus cases are spiking in Tallapoosa County, as the early hot spot around Auburn in east Alabama continues to grow.

Alexander City Mayor Thomas Spraggins suspects the spike is linked to the state veterans’ home in his city of nearly 15,000. Down the road, Dadeville Mayor Wayne Smith, whose town has about 3,200 people and is the county seat, thinks the cases are spreading from Tallapoosa County’s neighbors.

“We’re right next to Lee County and Chambers County, particularly Chambers County, and it seems a lot of it is coming from there, because we’ve got a lot of interaction with those counties,” Smith said Thursday. “But I really don’t know.”

The Alabama Department of Public Health reports 254 coronavirus cases in Tallapoosa County as of this morning. That’s now the eighth most in the state, as Tallapoosa climbed past much larger urban counties, such as Tuscaloosa and Madison. Tallapoosa County has just over 40,000 residents.

Tallapoosa also reported 16 deaths from coronavirus. Only three counties in Alabama have seen more, and one is neighboring Lee County.

Chambers and Lee counties along the Georgia border formed Alabama’s early hot spot, as Chambers for weeks reported the most cases per capita. As of Friday, the small county had recorded 275 cases. Like Tallapoosa, Chambers also has reported 16 fatalities due to COVID-19. Lee County, home of Auburn and Auburn University, has 340 cases on the books with 20 deaths.

“We have a lot of people who work in Auburn or live in Auburn and have a place up here on the lake,” said Smith in Dadeville.

Spraggins in Alexander City said travel to Chambers County played a role in his county’s caseload. He said he meets regularly with the chief operating officer of Russell Medical Center, the county’s largest medical facility, for updates on the virus.

“When we first got hit, the trend was people had been to Chambers County,” Spraggins said. “It was a common theme and where they had visited most recently.”

Now, Spraggins suspects “a real rash of cases in our veterans’ home here.” It is hard to be sure, he said, because information is hard to get from the state facility formally named the Bill Nichols State Veterans Home.

Press reports have said 64 veterans at Bill Nichols State Veterans home and 23 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus. The National Guard deployed a specialized team to Bill Nichols last weekend to disinfect residents’ rooms, hallways, offices and common areas at the home.

“I know there’s a lot over there,” Spraggins said. “Our EMS and fire department do a lot of transports for them. We’ve been transporting a lot of patients that are testing positive over there. When you add the nursing homes and veterans home together ….”

Spraggins said a friend’s mother died Thursday in a private nursing home in the community. “She was in the latter stages of life,” he said, “but she did have coronavirus and is one of those deaths.”

Spraggins and Smith have different views on opening the economy. Spraggins likes much of what Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth’s subcommittee recommended last week to Gov. Kay Ivey. Ainsworth's plan called for reopening many businesses immediately with added distancing and cleaning plans.

“I lean more on the side of Will Ainsworth,” Spraggins said. “I really do. I think we ought to open up pretty soon. I’m not saying I agree with all of his recommendations. I have a concern about the daycares. If I had a little child, I don’t know if I’d want that child back in daycare now.”

Smith said his town of Dadeville is a “small, close-knit community” but the population regularly swells on holiday weekends when there will be “upwards of 100,000 people on this end or this side of the lake.”

“I’m a little concerned about opening it up wide open,” Smith said of Alabama’s economy. “I’m concerned that we’re doing it too soon.”

“People are creatures of habit,” Smith said. “If you say, well, we’re opened up now, I don’t think we’ll ever go back to where we were. (But) this thing is always going to be around. We may have another spike in the fall. This is my opinion. I think we still need to be cautious. I really, really do. Let’s not fear the virus, but let’s darn sure respect it.”

Spraggins said the stores closed in downtown Alexander City are mostly small shops selling things like gifts and dresses. “I think you could control that,” Spraggins said of reopening. He suggested, for example, limiting customers to half the store’s capacity.

Spraggins and Smith both had bad weeks aside from the virus. A storm slammed Tallapoosa County on Sunday knocking out power to half of Alexander City’s 6,500 municipal electric customers, Spraggins said. The storm damaged 15-20 houses in Dadeville, Smith said, and knocked down 250 trees.

Making things worse in Dadeville was the murder of a couple in their home Friday night. Smith cannot remember that happening in his city. The couple are believed to be victims of a man who allegedly killed another woman in Auburn, stole her car, passed through Dadeville and was later arrested in Birmingham after allegedly killing two more people.

Smith and Spraggins both praised the organizations working together in their cities. Smith cited county Emergency Management Agency Director Jason Moran by name for “doing a whale of a job.” Food is being prepared and delivered to senior citizens, and local restaurants, groceries and convenience stores are doing curbside and home deliveries.

“This, too, will pass,” Smith said. “The Lord doesn’t put anything more on you than you can stand.” It’s been a hard week, but there is good to find in the community’s response.

“I actually had a little bit of damage to my home,” Smith said. He also mentioned a plum tree split by the wind.

“I can’t wait until this summer,” Smith said. “We’ll be able to have some good barbecue. This is nothing but an opportunity.”