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One in three patients at Decatur Morgan Hospital tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday as cases continue to skyrocket in northern Alabama to new highs since the pandemic outbreak.
“A lot of people still think we’re Chicken Little,” Judy Smith, a northern Alabama administrator for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said Monday at a press conference in Decatur. “We’re just screaming as the sky is falling. Well, folks, the sky is falling on Decatur Morgan. The sky is falling.”
Decatur Hospital opened its Parkway location on Beltline Road on Monday with 15 new beds designed to ease pressure on Morgan County’s largest hospital. But Kelli Powers, president of Decatur Morgan Hospital, said she expected the Parkway location to be at full capacity within days.
The 50 COVID-19 patients at Decatur are the most the hospital has treated at a time. Powers also said eight other Decatur Morgan patients are suspected of having the new coronavirus, but not yet confirmed.
“This is coming at a critical stage,” Powers said, the hospital could be forced to create an expanded intensive care unit if cases continue to rise.
Related: 1,574 new cases of COVID-19 in Alabama; hospitalizations continue to climb
In northern Alabama, in the Huntsville Hospital health system – which includes Decatur Morgan – 266 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized. That’s a jump of 31 cases since Thursday. In total, in Morgan County, 1,177 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past two weeks in a county of just under 120,000. This represents more than 19% of the total number of cases in the county year round.
Smith expressed exasperation at people refusing to adhere to coronavirus safety protocols such as wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining social distancing, even as this message is repeated day after day and as cases are increasing.
“We are such a lucky nation,” she said. “We have so much ability, so much intelligence, so many opportunities. Why on earth are we the nation that is so behind other nations? Why on earth are we the nation that keeps seeing our numbers increase because we just don’t want to hear the rules or want to follow them?
“It really is a very, very stressful time.”
Powers said, “It’s a simple thing to do. I’m worried about Thanksgiving and after that and how we’re going to meet the demand if we keep increasing like this.
The city of Huntsville released a video on Monday from leaders of Madison County hospitals and government, urging the public to follow safety protocols to prevent the spread during the holiday season.
“Please protect your family and friends,” said Dr Pam Hudson, CEO of Crestwood Medical Center in Huntsville, in the video. “It’s the best gift you can give.”
The steadily increasing patient load is also taking its tool, Powers said. And COVID-19 patients are more difficult to cure due to the contagious nature of the virus. Powers spoke on several occasions on Monday of the physical and mental fatigue that hospital healthcare workers endure while treating patients.
“It really puts a strain on healthcare workers,” she says. “We offer bonuses for people to work and they look at you and say, ‘There isn’t enough money’. When do we not have enough healthcare workers? The doctors are also tired.
Powers said the Parkway facility at Decatur plans to expand to 36 beds by the end of the year and that those plans will be accelerated as much as possible. Hiring new doctors and healthcare workers is the biggest hurdle, she said.
“When you put on a helmet on the construction site you don’t really expect something to fall on you, but it’s there in case it does,” Smith said, urging again to follow protocols. coronavirus safety. “When you put on the mask, you hope you are not exposed to COVID. But it’s there if you’re exposed. And the evidence has shown that they work. They’re not perfect – neither is the umbrella – but they work. Do whatever you need to do to be safe. “
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