A Look Inside “COVID-19 Unified Command”, Alabama’s Coronavirus Response Team
Governor Kay Ivey established a COVID-19 Unified Command, consisting of state health, military, and emergency leaders.
We know that Alabama’s COVID-19 data is constantly changing, and now so is the way that leaders are responding to the pandemic at the local level.
Monday, Alabama News Network got a look at the “COVID-19 Unified Command” in Montgomery. Governor Kay Ivey established the group as a hub for state health, military, and emergency management leaders who are collecting the data to decide “what’s next?”
For just over a month now, the Unified Command has been operating out the Alabama Department of Public Health’s headquarters downtown. “Each of these agencies brings something different to the table” explained retried Colonel James Hawkins, the agency’s coordinator.
Members of the the Alabama National Guard showed us how they’re making sure that there are enough hospital beds to treat Alabama Covid-19 patients; tracking the statewide numbers constantly and breaking the data down by hospital region.
“This chart here in the middle shows the number of beds available” Hawkins said, pointing to one of the many screens in the room, “and there’s another chart for ventilators. We were tracking that everyday and we still are. How many beds are out there in Alabama hospitals? How many (patients) are in them now? and what’s our margin, how close are we getting?” he said.
EMA data, shows that at least for now, Alabama does have enough respirators and ventilators, but there’s already a plan to track down extra equipment, should hospitals see a surge in patients. Leaders named community colleges, as one example, and other places that would normally use its supplies for nursing students. “We had ventilators in reserve, and we had the ventilators of community colleges” Hawkins said, “but the hospital ventilators were never tapped out, ever”.
Alabama started its gradual re-opening last Thursday, with retail stores operating at half capacity, and beaches now open too.
The number of COVID-19 cases jumped by nearly 600 over the weekend. These people were likely infected between 2-14 days before being tested , health officials say.
Experts will now look to the data collected between roughly April 30th and May 10th. “If we see a spike related to the activity that happened this weekend that’s when we would start to pick up on that” said State Health officer Dr, Scott Harris. That data will help paint a better picture on whether Gov. Kay Ivey should make the call to continue to ease restrictions, or tighten them once again.
