Multiple counties in Alabama are emerging as COVID-19 hotspots in the battle against the pandemic. The bed occupancy rate of intensive care units in several counties is now at 96 percent.

According to a report by ABC News, Montgomery County, Alabama's capital, now has the most number of cases than any other county in the state with nearly 3,000 diagnosed with the virus.

However, other counties, including Jefferson and Tuscaloosa, have reported a surge in weekly cases due to outbreaks in workplaces, nursing homes, and large gatherings, a FEMA memo said on Tuesday.

Alabama, which is still in its first wave, has yet to see a decline in cases for 14 consecutive days. Dr Don Williamson, the head of the Alabama State Hospital Association, claimed he has yet to see any indication that the coronavirus situation is improving.

Lone Doctor

In Lowndes County, the community's single ambulance takes the sick to an emergency room located half an hour away. The rural county, which is among the nation's poorest, has Alabama's highest concentration of cases and one of the United States' worst infection rates.

George Thomas, the county's only doctor, believes the county's cases came from Montgomery where the residents from Lowndes County work, he told Bloomberg.

The county's residents mostly reside in cramped mobile homes. Lowndes, which is a predominantly Black community, is also rife with pre-existing illnesses and a shortage of health-care resources. Thomas treats patients at a federally subsidized clinic situated across a Dollar General.

Lowndes' infection rate rivals the most infected areas in New York City when the pandemic was at its peak. Last week, more than a third of coronavirus tests in the county came back positive.

Health Care System

Data published by the Alabama health department showed 375 residents from long-term care facilities have died from the coronavirus, making up nearly half of Alabama's death toll. The state's dashboard showed more than 2,000 nursing home residents and 1,243 staffers are infected with the disease.

A nursing home association also claimed 158 nursing homes across the state have had at least one case of COVID-19, WSFA 12 News reports.

Medical care facilities in Alabama are seeing a growing number of new hospitalizations each day. The increase has been the highest total number of hospitalized patients and the lowest ICU capacity since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Alabama Political Reporter said.

Only 16 percent of ICU beds are left unoccupied within the state. The latest data showed Montgomery County has three beds left while Tuscaloosa County only has one ICU bed available.


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