Alabama Hospitals Have No Available ICU Beds

MONTGOMERY, AL — The mounting number of COVID-19 patients in Alabama have continued to strain the state's hospitals, and Tuesday, the Alabama Hospital Association said ICU patients in Alabama outnumber the available ICU beds in the state, according to a WBRC report.

Dr. Don Williamson of the AHA told WBRC that as of Tuesday, 1,568 patients needed ICU beds, and the state's hospitals have only 1,557 ICU beds.

Williamson said hospitals are using space not normally used for ICUs, and are in the process now of trying to track down any open ICU beds at hospitals around the state. Of the patients in ICU in Alabama, 48 percent are COVID-19 patients, and of those 2,700 people in the hospital with COVID now, 41 of them are children.

Williamson said he expects the delta variant's spread in Alabama, the state with the lowest vaccination rate and the highest rate of positive tests, to place further strain on the state's health care facilities.

"They may spend more time in the ER than they normally would," Williamson said of ICU patients in Alabama. "They may spend hours. On the other hand they may end up being taken care of in a hallway on a gurney as opposed to an ICU bed."

Read more about Alabama's ICU bed shortage on WBRC.com.