Coronavirus infections surge in U.S. Alabama health care system nears collapse

Don Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association, said on August 17th that the state’s health care system was already overstretched with more seriously ill patients needing beds than the total number of beds in the intensive care unit, following the recent surge in Coronavirus infections.

As of August 17, 1,568 patients needed to use intensive care unit beds, compared with 1,557 in the state, and patients in intensive care were being placed in other areas of the hospital for treatment, Williamson said.