Montgomery (AL) running out of ICU beds as coronavirus cases double in May

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.al.com/news/2020/05/montgomery-running-out-of-icu-beds-as-coronavirus-cases-double-in-may.html

Today 9:43 AM


By Amy Yurkanin | [e-mail] and Ramsey Archibald | [e-mail]

Montgomery hospitals are starting to run low on intensive care beds, said Dr. David Thrasher. The four counties making up the Montgomery metro area have seen a combined 721 new confirmed coronavirus cases since May 4 – an increase of 110 percent.

Mayor Steven Reed said the virus is straining the city’s hospitals.

“I’m concerned about the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Reed said. “We are seeing an increase in the number of people who test positive. Occupancy in our Intensive Care Units has reached a critical point and Montgomery hospital officials are now referring some cases to Birmingham.”

Beyond the numbers, Thrasher also has concerns about the faces he’s seeing. About 40 percent of his patients have been between the ages of 25 and 40. And although older people are more likely to die from the virus, he said he has lost younger patients, including a couple hairstylists.

Since May 1, 27 people have died of the virus across the Montgomery metro.

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[DAMANgoldberg]

1. OMG

Montgomery is not a particularly small place, but only about 6 hospitals including Prattville and Wetumpka. Birmingham is 90 miles away. This is not good, because even Birmingham, which is a center of medicine for the Mid-South, can only take so many. My undergraduate school county, Lee, has problems of its own as well.

[roamer65]

2. Maybe AL will take it seriously soon.