The Montgomery area’s recent increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is worrying experts as Alabama’s statewide new-case-per-day count ticks upward.
According to WSFA, the Jackson Hospital and Baptist Health locations in Montgomery and Prattville had 164 total patients with COVID-19 being treated in their facilities as of Thursday.
Jackson Hospital was caring for 46 of those patients and had maxed out their intensive care beds. Jackson Hospital and Jackson Clinic could still accept emergency room intakes as of Thursday.
The hospital is not yet at surge capacity — it still has the ability to alter some units to handle the influx — but experts are still nervous about what the situation means.
“The trends we are seeing in central Alabama are alarming,” said Dr. Don Williamson, the current president of the Alabama Hospital Association and a former State Health Officer.
“[I]f our community does not take this seriously, the virus will continue to spread, and at some point, our medical capacity will reach its limit,” Dr. David Thrasher, director of Respiratory Therapy at Jackson Hospital told WSFA.
The county saw its largest-ever number of new coronavirus cases come through on Thursday, indicating many were infected around two weeks ago.
More information troubling experts is the percent of Montgomery County’s coronavirus tests coming back positive remains quite high when compared to the rest of the state.
Around 17% of tests in the Montgomery area are coming back positive when compared to around 7% for the state as a whole, indicating high levels of community transmission in everyday places like grocery stores and restaurants.
Alabama coronavirus update
While no other hospital system in the state is at capacity, the total number of cases has ticked upwards in recent days, prompting increased concern from doctors.
“Alabama has experienced outbreaks at the workplace, long-term care facilities, and as a result of large gatherings, such as those occurring during the Memorial Day holiday,” the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) said in a statement.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and other prominent infectious disease experts have expressed worry that transmission will continue to grow after hundreds of thousands did not social distance during the George Floyd protests.
Additionally, some conservative thought leaders have expressed frustration with the medical community giving protesters a pass for ignoring COVID-19 precautions, which they argue cuts down on people’s willingness to continue following guidelines.
The Twitter account for the Bama Tracker database of Alabama’s coronavirus stats shared a chart marking the dates state leaders reopened. The tracker uses the State of Alabama’s data to fuel its graphs, charts and tables.
In comments made at the announcement reopening Alabama, both Governor Kay Ivey and Dr. Scott Harris, head of the ADPH, acknowledged that the number of COVID-19 cases would inevitably increase but they said that hospital systems were now equipped to handle it.
The Alabama Department of Labor on Thursday revealed that 19,950 unemployment claims were filed in the last week, down from a peak of 106,739 for the week ending April 4 during the early phase of the economic shutdown.
Many of the outbreaks in the state outside of Montgomery have been traced to specific social gatherings, causing a cluster of infections.
As of Friday at noon, over 750 Alabamians have died from COVID-19.
“COVID-19 spreads quickly, and your actions affect others. More than ever since the pandemic began, we need people to social distance, wear face coverings in public, and practice good respiratory hygiene,” said Harris.
A new study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicated the best thing an individual can do to prevent further spread of the virus is to wear a mask in public.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
