LOCAL

Alabama verifies more than 1,000 new COVID-19 deaths in past week

Melissa Brown
Montgomery Advertiser
This undated photo provided Dec. 14 by the University of Alabama Birmingham shows the inside of UAB Hospital's COVID-19 intensive care unit.

Dr. Scott Harris rattled off the numbers of Alabama COVID-19 deaths verified in recent days. 

123.

133.

205.

250.

161.

192. 

"These aren't numbers or stats. These are our families and friends and loved ones dying of COVID," Harris, the state's health officer, said Friday at a weekly press update. 

The stunning increase in fatalities shows no sign of slowing on the heels of a COVID-19 surge that, while declining, is still filling hospital ICUs to capacity. 

"At least 90% of these deaths are completely preventable with vaccination," Harris said.

The 1,064 deaths didn't necessarily occur within the last week, Harris said, but were counted after official verification by health officials. At least 6,738 people have died from COVID-19 complications in 2021, 1,763 of which have been confirmed in the last four weeks alone. 

At least 13,921 people have died from COVID in Alabama since the start of the pandemic in 2020, more than all Alabamians killed in U.S. military deaths in the World War I, World War II, Korean and Vietnam conflicts combined. Deaths this year are on pace to surpass 2020 fatalities, a searing milestone when vaccinations sit on shelves around the state, proven safe and effective at preventing most serious COVID-19 illnesses. 

"There is no reason these people should have had to die," Harris said. "Vaccination prevents most hospitalizations and most deaths. It's a tragedy we have to sit here every week and report these numbers to you." 

The COVID-19 wave — driven by the highly infectious delta variant — began crushing Alabama health-care capacity in July, with hospitalizations skyrocketing past available ICU capacity for weeks on end. 

Hospitalizations have dropped significantly in recent weeks, but Alabama is not yet out of the woods. Despite the decline in cases and hospitalized patients, Alabama hospitals continued to report 100% of ICUs around the state filled. In addition to military medical units deploying into state hospitals in recent weeks, Harris said Friday three National Guard units would soon enter rural hospitals in Troy, Monroeville and Demopolis to assist with beleaguered hospital workers. 

"The lack of staff we have in our hospitals is so tremendous, we will continue to need this when these numbers have declined somewhat," Harris said, noting that the some 1,700 people currently hospitalized is still a "huge surge" for Alabama hospitals, even though it's improved from peaks in the upper 2,000s. "We still have places with staff working around the clock, many days a week, for a year and a half. ... We're realistic about the fact that numbers have declined, we'll take that. Deaths have not declined. people are still dying from this disease at a really high rate."

At Troy Regional Medical Center this week, CEO Rick Smith said his staff has seen a slight decline in new cases, severe COVID-19 cases continue to strain their capacity. Patients are coming into the hospital and staying for weeks on end, much longer than patients in earlier surges required care. UAB's Dr. Sarah Nafziger confirmed Birmingham's hospitals are seeing similar trends, with patients requiring more intense levels of care for longer time periods, straining already overtaxed staff. 

"It has been the toughest, toughest 60 days I've had in 38 years in health care," Smith said. "We're seeing volumes we had not seen before, not even in December and January when we thought we were in a crisis point there."

Troy's ICU capacity has been at capacity, and usually over capacity, for weeks on end, Smith said. 

"We hold people in the (emergency department) waiting for an ICU bed, because there's none in the state," Smith said. 

Smith urges Alabamians to get the vaccine, as at least 95% of Troy's COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated. 

Increased deaths have been a tragic wake-up call for some in the small community, with a small uptick in vaccinations in recent days. 

"In a small community, when unfortunately deaths occur, somebody knows somebody. It becomes very personal," Smith said. "It's unfortunate, but I think it's resonated in our community. Every person we vaccinate, we consider that a win for us. Hopefully, that will keep them out of the hospital."

After trailing every state in vaccination rates for some time, Alabama has recently improved its position in vaccinating people, with more than 2.4 million Alabamians receiving one or more doses. 

But Harris implored Alabamians not to let their guard down, even if cases and hospitalizations are moving in the right direction, and continue mitigation efforts to prevent another catastrophic spike in cases. 

"We've been here before, and we've been here before more than once. All of us are so tired of COVID, it's easy for us to ignore what we don't want to think about if its not forced in our face every day," Harris said. "As the numbers decline, its amazing how short our memories can be sometimes." 

Alabama COVID-19 cases

COVID-19 deaths in Alabama

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.