MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Alabama on Monday hit a new high for the number of COVID-19 patients in state hospitals with more than 3,000 hospitalized.
The new peak comes as health officials feared a new surge of cases in the wake of the winter holidays. There were a record 3,064 people in state hospitals Monday with COVID-19, according to numbers from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Dr. Don Williamson, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said the surge is likely attributable to the continued fallout from Thanksgiving, the earliest Christmas parties as well as increased community transmission.
He is concerned the caseloads will grow from people who got infected during Christmas gatherings but haven’t started exhibiting serious symptoms.
“If anything, this is the very first part of the Christmas surge, and we still have a lot of the surge to deal with,” Williamson said.