by Scott Buttram, publisher
MONTGOMERY — After falling 15 percent in the first two weeks of September, Covid-19 related hospitalizations tumbled another 16 percent in the last seven days. In all, Covid-19 driven hospitalizations in Alabama have fallen 31% from the Sept. 1 peak of 2,890, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.
The Alabama Hospital Association noted that five hospitals had not yet reported for the data released Sunday, Sept. 19.
Information released by AHA on Sept. 19 showed that 1,983 people are currently hospitalized in an Alabama hospital for Covid related issues. That’s a decrease of 907 since the peak hospitalizations at the beginning of the month.
An area that is not declining, however, is pediatric hospital admissions. On Sunday, Sept. 12, there were 42 pediatric patients with Covid related issues, today, Sept. 19, there are 43. Eight of the pediatric patients are in ICU and two are ventilated.
The remaining 1,940 are adults. Eleven of the patients are pregnant and one pregnant patient is in ICU.
Intensive care beds are finally opening open after surpassing capacity during part of September. According to the AHA, 1,475 of the 1,542 monitored ICU beds are occupied. About 45% of ICU patients are Covid related.
Unvaccinated people accounted for 83% of those hospitalized with fully vaccinated (14%) and partially vaccinated (3%) accounting for the remaining 17 percent.