A United States congressman declared in recent days that, “Real America is done with COVID-19.’’

The families of four people who died from the virus within 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday in Huntsville, Alabama hospitals might disagree.

“Our staffs are frustrated,’’ Dr. Pam Hudson, CEO of Crestwood Medical Center, said of her hospital and those in the Huntsville Hospital group. “We’re dealing with a disease that is preventable.

“It’s a very tough time,’’ she added. “This isn’t an Alabama pandemic.’’

Her comments were made at the weekly coronavirus briefing at the Huntsville City Council chambers.

The message at the briefing was familiar, especially with the variant Delta strain of COVID-19 affecting people throughout the world: social distancing, masking, and sanitizing are as important as last year when the pandemic hit.

And, get vaccinated.

“The science is behind the safety of the vaccine,’’ Hudson said.

As of Wednesday, there had been 45,826 positive COVID-19 cases and 567 deaths in Madison County, according to Director Jeff Birdwell of the county Emergency Management Agency. People receiving virus tests are coming in at a 20.5 positivity rate.

Hudson said all county hospitals are curtailing elective surgeries because of the rise in COVID-19 patients, which includes an uptick in patients under the age of 12 who aren’t eligible for vaccinations and appear to be particularly vulnerable to the Delta variant.

There are currently 260 virus inpatients in the county with 47 people on ventilators.

“It exceeds our capacity,’’ Hudson said.

As earlier reported, a booster of Pfizer vaccines is expected to be available in late September, and Hudson said Moderna should have one in October. The booster is for those who were fully vaccinated after eight months.

The Reports of flu last winter were lower than normal. Doctors have attributed it to both flu and COVID-19 vaccines and mask wearing.

“Don’t put off one or the other,’’ Hudson said.

Following a national trend, Marshall Space Flight Assistant Director Steve Miley said the company, one of the largest employers in the region, has only 25 percent of it’s personnel coming to the office.

“Around 15-1,800,’’ he said.

According to digital.com, research experts examined responses from 1,250 businesses that had staff working on-site before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sixty-nine percent of businesses reported that they have permanently closed some or all office spaces in favor of a hybrid or fully remote work model since March 2020. The primary reason, the research concluded, was that most employees expressed a desire to continue working from home after having to do so during the pandemic.

Health issues were also a concern, the report found.

However, Miley is confident that over the next few months the employees at the Marshall Space Flight Center will begin to return to work in person, citing a strict mask policy while at work.

Hudson, as she and other medical officials have repeated during the pandemic, urged skeptics to get vaccinated.

The virus, she said, “doesn’t have arms or legs. It’s traveling by contact.’’

The Gulf Coast was struck with a surge of the Delta variant last month. It’s just now rampant in the Tennessee Valley.