A 16-year-old patient is on a ventilator at Huntsville Hospital due to the new coronavirus when the pandemic begins to strike northern Alabama.
Hospitalizations at the Huntsville Hospital Health System in northern Alabama are skyrocketing, CEO David Spillers said, including 38 patients at the system’s main hospital in downtown Huntsville, a peak number in nearby Athens and a new increase in Marshall County.
The revelation about the teenager with a fan in Huntsville indicates that COVID-19 is not limited to targeting the elderly population, even when the average age of a COVID hospital patient is in the mid-1950s, Spillers said.
“Young people are not immune,” said Spillers. “This is the first adolescent we have had in the ICU, the youngest patient we have ever had with a ventilator. Young people are not immune. It’s weird but it happens. “
Related: AL.com’s Coverage of the Coronavirus
Throughout 2020, Huntsville had seen relatively few infections and deaths compared to other major Alabama cities. But that seems to be changing. Madison County reported 680 new cases in June, which means that 68 percent of all cases in Madison County occurred since June 1.
“We don’t have this pandemic under control,” said Dale Strong, chairman of the Madison County Commission. “Not in Madison County, not in the entire state of Alabama or in the entire United States.”
The recent increase is evident in the number of those requiring hospital care as well. Spillers said June 1 that there were 28 patients hospitalized with COVID throughout the Huntsville Hospital system. On Monday, that number had more than quadrupled to 115. In Madison County, there were 44 patients hospitalized, six at Madison Hospital and two at Crestwood Hospital, in addition to 38 at Huntsville Hospital.
Marshall County, which emerged as one of the first coronavirus hotspots in Alabama and has seen a resurgence of cases, has 30 patients in its two smallest hospitals: 21 at Boaz Hospital and nine at Guntersville Hospital.
Decatur-Morgan has seen a slight decline with 20 hospitalized patients, while Athens-Limestone is at its highest point, Spillers said, with nine hospitalized patients. Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield has 12.
Spillers said those who are hospitalized generally have pre-existing conditions that make it difficult to fight the virus.
Testing has increased in Madison County, Spillers said, but so has the positive test rate. About 2,000 tests were administered last week at Huntsville Hospital, Spillers said, with a positive rate of about 7 percent. That’s an increase of about 3 percent a few weeks ago, although it’s still below the state’s positive test rate of 10 percent.
The increase in hospitalizations has led to a discussion about pressure on resources, but Spillers said his biggest concern right now is not having enough beds for patients, but rather enough healthcare workers to care for those patients. After all, Spillers said, healthcare workers are also in the community and potentially exposed to the virus.
“The concern continues to grow,” he said. “We will create beds. I’m less concerned about finding a bed than running out of caregivers. ”
He described the situation in the bed space in northern Alabama hospitals as “very manageable,” but also warned of another increase after the upcoming holiday weekend of July 4. Health officials have repeatedly pointed out the Memorial Day weekend in May that coincided with the reopening of the state as the source of the increase in cases across the state.
“But because this virus is so infectious, it doesn’t take much for that to get out of control,” said Spillers. “We cannot let our guard down when we reach July 4th. We have to be very careful about what we will do in the coming weeks to make sure it doesn’t keep going up. “
Spillers repeated his defense of wearing masks, saying he doesn’t understand why it has become a political issue over a health issue.
“You have no idea when you’re in the community if the person next to you has it or doesn’t have it and could be broadcasting it,” he said. “It is a good reason to cover your face and keep your distance, because there are many more people with it.
“The second conclusion is that there is a certain percentage of people who when they receive COVID will end up in the hospital. And there is a percentage of that group that will end up in the ICUs at the vents. And that’s a bad time if you’re going to be spending time on a vent. ”
