Health providers may be counting the days since Saturday’s rally in Cullman featuring Donald Trump. The concern was voiced early about the event becoming a COVID-19 super spreader. It reportedly takes five to six days after exposure before infections start to appear. That could mean Thursday or Friday following the Trump event. Doctor Sarah Nafziger* teaches emerge medicine at UAB. She says the hospital has already delaying certain surgeries so it can handle more COVID cases…
“It’s the same thing we’re already doing, we’re looking daily at, trying to adjust how much elective work we can do, and also maintain bed availability for our COVID cases that are coming, our patients who are infected with COVID,” said Nafziger.
UAB is also implementing mandatory COVID vaccinations for its hospital staff. The decision follows advice from the American Hospital Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nafziger say the growing COVID caseload could reach five thousand in hospitals across Alabama, which is prompting the reduction of surgeries for cancer and transplants.
“We’re not able to schedule much each day, and we’re having to turn more and more beds from regular patient care to COVID care,” said Nafziger. “So, we have a plan laid out about which nursing units we successively flip over.”
Researchers point to super spreader events in southern Alabama and Florida for the concern over the Trump rally and the recent Rock the South concert. Hospital administrators around the State are concerned the growing COVID caseload could overwhelm the system.
