BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Hospital admissions linked to COVID-19 are up about 20% in Alabama in less than two weeks, a trend health officials said on Tuesday they were watching, but which is no sign of a new impending crisis in the United States. pandemic.
Statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health showed that 362 people were hospitalized Monday for the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Although the number of the 301 patients was only 10 days earlier, the total was still only a fraction of the 3,070 patients who nearly filled the state’s intensive care units by mid-January.
The increase in the number of cases is alarming, but it is not an immediate threat to the state’s health care system, as the number of people treated remains well below the levels seen earlier this year, said Dr. Don Williamson, CEO of the Alabama Hospital Association.
Also, he said, a major spike in the number of critically ill patients is not expected, as more and more people are being vaccinated and more patients are young people, who generally do better than older patients with health complications.
“It’s nothing dramatic, but it’s something we need to be aware of is happening,” said Williamson, who previously served as a state health officer. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the moving average number of daily new cases has increased by 163 in the past two weeks, an increase of about 50%.
Dr. Scott Harris, who followed Williamson at Public Health, said officials were monitoring the increase in hospital admissions, but are not yet sure of the cause. The bump follows spring break, Easter rallies, and the end of the state’s mandatory face mask rule on April 9, all of which could be a factor.
“The rise in hospital admissions is just a reminder that our most vulnerable people still need to be careful,” he told The Associated Press.
Since the start of the pandemic, more than 522,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Alabama, and nearly 10,800 have died. While about 1.4 million in the state have received at least one dose of vaccine, Alabama is the last nationally in terms of the number of people immunizing.
Vaccine is more abundant than ever, Williamson said, but several hospitals across the state had immunization appointments last week “and no one showed up to get the vaccines.”
“Demand has fallen in a significant number of our hospitals,” he said. It’s unclear whether demand in hospitals was low because shots were available elsewhere or because large numbers of people refuse to get vaccinated, Williamson said.
AP writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery contributed to this report.