Hospitalizations on the rise as Omicron variant spreads
As many people are coming off mass holiday gatherings and students begin to head back to school, the Omicron variant is causing COVID-19 hospitalizations to surge in Alabama like it is across the country.
The COVID-19 positivity rate is currently the highest it has ever been. A month ago, we had under 350 people in the hospital with the virus. It has now more than tripled to almost 1000.
However, while intensive care unit admissions are going up, they have not reached the level we saw in August or January of last year. We have just under 200 people in the ICU right now. We had over 800 in August.
“There is a little optimism,” Dr. Don Williamson president of the Alabama Hospital Association said. “But clearly we are seeing the affect of increasing case counts and increasing hospitalizations. Expect that to unfortunately continue over the coming weeks.”
Dr. Williamson also stressed the importance of not going to emergency departments for testing if you are asymptomatic. This is creating emergency rooms to get backed up and potentially exposing significant numbers people. He said to utilize the health department, pharmacies, or urgent cares for this kind of testing instead.
