Hamilton County’s public health and medical leaders urged residents to stay vigilant in their response to COVID-19 in the wake of Sunday’s severe weather, which created conditions favorable to the spread of the coronavirus as recovery efforts and family displacement put people in close contact.
“This crisis doesn’t change the need to deal with the COVID situation. People need to do their very best to maintain social distancing, which will conflict with our desire to immediately help our neighbors,” said Rae Bond, CEO of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Medical Society and chairwoman of the area’s COVID-19 task force. “As we’ve said from the beginning, stopping the spread of the disease is the single best thing we can do to assist our local hospitals, and the damage we’ve sustained makes that more important than ever.”
In a news release sent Monday afternoon, Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department officials said when possible people should maintain at least 6 feet distance from others and wear masks to decrease spread of the virus. The department also cautioned against the risk of tetanus during storm cleanup and food safety issues posed by power outages.
Bond expressed confidence in the hospitals’ ability to treat everyone who comes in with injuries as well as to treat other health conditions.
As of mid-afternoon Monday, hospitals in Hamilton County had 181 general adult beds available, 44 adult intensive care unit beds and 359 adult ventilators available, according to data from the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management. An additional 17 general beds, 9 intensive care beds and 48 pediatric ventilators were also available.