Alabama health worker “can’t imagine” hospitals could stay open without COVID vaccine

Alabama state health official Dr Scott Harris said as bad as 2020 has been for the state – Alabama has seen a record number of deaths last year – the delta variant of COVID-19 could have made 2021 unimaginable without the COVID vaccine.

“If we didn’t have almost 2 million people fully immunized, I can’t imagine, I don’t think we would be functional,” Harris said at a press conference. Mairie d’AL.com Wednesday.

“I can’t imagine that our hospitals could even stay open.”

August and September were already impacted by Alabama’s hospital system, with a constant flow of COVID patients and more intensive care patients than hospitals in the state have intensive care beds. Those highs have dipped slightly, but Alabama continues to see thousands of new cases every day and over 200 COVID deaths per week since the end of August.

Dr Michael Saag, an infectious disease specialist at UAB Hospital, also attended the mayoralty and said the outlook for the rest of the year depends on the state’s vaccination efforts.

“It really depends on what we’re doing,” Saag said. “If we all commit to getting vaccinated now, if we all start wearing masks again, especially vigilant indoors, if we do it all the time, we can get it under control.” “

He said getting the vaccine was one way to help the community as a whole, although the person wouldn’t do it for their own safety.

“I think I have some obligation to look after my brother or sister and try to help and protect them as best I can,” Saag said. “The way we can do that is to make choices that protect not only ourselves, but them and for me, that means getting the vaccine. For me that means wearing a mask when I’m in public when we have this high degree of transmission. “

Having a higher vaccination rate would ease the COVID burden on public hospitals overflowing with patients, potentially avoiding situations like this earlier this month, when an antique dealer Cullman died afterwards have to be transported nearly 200 miles to an available hospital bed after having a heart attack.

“If everyone were vaccinated now, our hospitals wouldn’t be clogged,” Saag said. “It’s a fact. It’s just a fact. So that’s what we can do to help ourselves and others.

Although vaccinated patients sometimes contract COVID and can pass it on to others, they are much less likely to be severely affected by the disease and end up in hospital or die from the disease. Saag said nearly 90% of people hospitalized with COVID and 95% of those who died from COVID were not fully vaccinated.

The UAB said last week that the “Vast majority” of vaccinated patients who are hospitalized with the disease were immunocompromised, with previous problems that weakened their immune system.

“Every time we ask ourselves ‘am I getting a vaccine or not?’ we’re really not asking the yes or no question, ”Saag said. “We’re saying what is the risk of side effect and long-term complications from a vaccine versus the risk of long-term side effect and complication due to the actual capture of COVID.

“And there is no comparison.”

Being unvaccinated like smoking in public

Saag said that while people have a choice of whether or not to get the vaccine, those choices impact the community as a whole by continuing to circulate a deadly disease and keeping hospitals full to the point of breaking down.

He said there are many examples in our laws of times when individual freedoms are limited to promote the common good.

“People have the right to make their own decisions, absolutely, but as [Saag] said, that right really ends when you talk about an infectious disease that you are spreading to other people, ”Harris said. “We allow people to do whatever they want, but not to the extent that they can still harm other people.

“You know, smoking is a great example. You can smoke as much as you want, and you can’t stand in a crowd of people in a public space and blow smoke at them, you know, we don’t tolerate that. This is the best example I know of linked to the pandemic. “

Harris said Alabama’s vaccination rate recently increased because Alabama surpassed a handful of states in the percentage of adults receiving at least one dose of a vaccine.

“The Alabamians are finally here,” said Harris. “It takes time, and I think people who have had personal experience with this disease and who know people involved or maybe themselves affected, maybe that’s when they are maybe sometimes prompted to act. “

Doctors call for caution on match day

Saag and Harris have both urged people to be careful when attending big events like football games, concerts or even indoor gatherings to limit the continued spread of COVID.

“I love football, but I step back when I look in the stands and see crowded people screaming when I know that with our current rate of infection per 100,000 people in a stadium, there will probably be 700 to 1000 people. those people who are infected at that time, ”Saag said.

Saag said people traveling to such environments should be careful, get vaccinated as soon as possible and wear masks. He said such events would have been much safer in June, when transmission of the virus was relatively low.

“With the tariffs we have today, if there are 10 people in a room, there is a chance that one of the 10 will be infected is around 20%,” he said. “If you are talking to a group of about 50 people, the chance that one in 50 people will be infected is well over 80%, maybe up to 90%. If you have 100 people in the room, there is a 99.9% chance that one in 100 people, at the current rate of transmission, will be infected. “

“You don’t know who they are,” Saag said. “You throw 1000 people, 2000 people into a concert, you can do the math, and see you talk about at least 10 to 20 people in the crowd are infected, and they spit out the virus they sing that they clap, if that sort of thing, even though it’s outside, if you’re setting in front of that person and they’re throwing up this virus, hundreds of thousands of copies, in your direction. You breathe it in, Delta has velcro on it, and when you breathe it in, it’s going to stick, and you’re very likely to get infected. So use this information to make wise choices.