The city of Cullman is planning to host Donald Trump at a rally tomorrow and health care providers are worried. The concern that the outdoor event could turn into a COVID-19 super spreader. UAB hospital is delaying some surgeries due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant this week. Doctor Suzanne Judd teaches public health at UAB. She says she’s already worried about last weekend’s Rock the South Concert event and Trump’s rally might make matters worse.
“Those types of events are definitely going to lead to transmission,” said Judd. “If you’re at an event that has more than twenty five people, there’s a fifty percent chance somebody there has COVID. If you’re at a big event that has one hundred people, you’re guaranteed that somebody has COVID.”
Judd says events like Trump’s rally in Cullman or last weekend’s “Rock The South” concert could result in the spread of the Delta variant. She adds that similar summer time gathering in south Alabama and Florida resulted in more COVID infections.
“It was the summer. People were going to beach, they were going out to eat they’re doing all the things we’d hoped to get back to,” Judd observed. “And, we’re seeing lots of transmission in those settings. So, yeah absolutely, those events, even if they’re outdoors, it’s quite possible we could see a lot of cases."
The Alabama Hospital Association says the state ran out of intensive care beds on Wednesday. More than two dozen people were waiting for an ICU bed to open up. UAB hospital is projecting more than five thousand patients will crowd Alabama hospitals next month.
