In north Alabama, the hospitalizations are primarily in Madison County. Of the 57 inpatient cases, 28 are at Huntsville Hospital or Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children. Another nine cases are at Madison Hospital. Elsewhere in the system, Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield has eight cases and no other facility has more than five.
Hassoun dismissed the impact of variants of the COVID-19 virus as having a significant impact on the rise in inpatient care. He also said there have been “very rare cases” of non-symptomatic people testing positive for the virus at the hospital after having received the vaccine.
“I think it’s partly related to that because some of these variants are highly transmissible,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s the main reason. I really think we still have ongoing transmission and, unfortunately, the more gatherings happening, the more chances of infection are going to happen.”
Hassoun pointed to the rise in inpatient care as a cautionary tale for people to continue following COVID protocols such as masking and social distancing as well as the need to get the vaccine.
While the widespread availability of the vaccine is chilling the concern seen previously when hospital numbers began to tick upward, Hassoun urged everyone to get the shots. The longer the virus and its variants circulate, the doctor warned, the greater the possibility for more danger variants to emerge.
And until that herd immunity is achieved, more spikes in cases and hospitalizations should be expected, Hassoun said.
“We’re watching that closely,” Hassoun said of the hospital numbers. “We hope it’s not going to continue creeping (up) in the next two weeks. Hopefully, that will plateau and start going down. That’s why we keep encouraging please, please get vaccinated. It really makes a difference.”
