Number of COVID Cases in the Area is Down ‘Drastically’; Vaccine Supply is Limited

Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers opened the recent weekly COVID-19 update with positive news.

Before the briefing ended at the Huntsville City Council chambers, however, there were also some negatives regarding the availability of virus vaccines.

First, the good stuff. According to Spillers, there are 263 COVID-19 inpatients in hospitals across the region, down from more than 500 in early January. 

Huntsville Hospital facilities have 147 COVID-19 patients with 34 in ICU and 22 on ventilators. Crestwood Medical Center has 33 inpatients with seven in ICU and four on ventilators.

“The number of patients in our hospitals has fallen drastically over the last couple of weeks,’’ Spillers said.

Also, Spillers said his hospitals have 110 staff members out compared to 350 at the virus’ peak.

There’s more positive news. In Madison County, the percentage of people testing positive is also down from 38 percent last month to currently 15 percent.

While the vaccine rollout has contributed to the decrease in numbers of affected people there’s a bigger underlying reason.

“Primarily we’re moving past the holidays when people got together and there was a lot of community exposure,’’ Spillers said. “This is a highly infectious disease and when people get together we see a blip in the numbers and that leads to an increase of more people in the hospital.’’

Huntsville Hospital is also restarting elective surgeries, but not at full capacity.

“But hopefully,’’ Spillers said, “if the COVID patients continue to go down, we’ll get back to full capacity.’’

Meanwhile, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle continued to stress following safety measures that include wearing a mask. He added that receiving a vaccine when it becomes available is a priority.

“We need to make sure everybody takes the vaccine,’’ he said. “If you, as a community, take the vaccine, we’ll be able to look at this in the rearview mirror.’’

Getting the vaccine is not going to be easy for some in the coming weeks. The Madison County Health Department, for instance, only has enough supplies for second doses for those who’ve already received the first.

It could be the second week of March before first doses are available through that department.

“My recommendation is to continue to watch the (online) portal for additional appointments and certainly social media, the news media, you know those kinds of places for those kinds of additional drive-thru or clinics that may have additional doses,” Huntsville-Madison County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Birdwell said.

But Huntsville Hospital is getting 1,000 vaccine doses per day from the Alabama Department of Public Health and plans to begin providing 1,500-2,000 shots daily by appointment at John Hunt Park.

At other sites, though, the vaccine shortage comes as the state prepares to expand the list of eligibility to people 65 or older starting Monday.

Residents who have received their first shot will get the second dose. Spillers said he thinks there will be an uptick in vaccine production and more products on the market, making fall a possible target to have the virus under control.

But he also said the virus mutations that have shown up in the United Kingdom and South Africa have shown to be even more contagious than the current strain.

“We’ll probably have to have some kind of a booster shot at some point depending on how these things continue to mutate,’’ Spillers said. “That’s to be determined.’’