James Brown discusses rising COVID-19 rates

At the Aug. 9 Coffee County Commission meeting Coffee County Emergency Management Agency Director James Brown gave yet another report on the rising cases of hospitalizations in the area due to COVID-19.

Brown said that on July 26, 870 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Alabama and as of Aug. 9 more than 2,000 are currently occupying hospital beds in the state as a result of COVID-19.

“As you can imagine hospitals are at or over capacity, especially some of the ICUs,” Brown said. “A lot of hospitals are considering – and some have already – canceling elective surgeries.

“The rate of growth for hospitalizations is enormous. At our peak we were going up 24 percent every two weeks; we gradually went up. The last two weeks we went up 250 percent. The rate of growth is unbelievable right now.”

As hospitalizations in the area began to rise Brown and Coffee County EMA – as other health agencies in the state have – have been trying to raise awareness on this fact and try to attempt to improve Alabama’s vaccine numbers and in an attempt to get people to try and return to some of the social distancing measures that were taken in 2020. As a result, Brown and his co-workers have been accused of fear mongering.

“I want to ensure everyone that is not our intent,” Brown said in a statement to the media last week. “Though our job is to plan for the worst-case scenario we try to make our messaging realistic and practical.

“Hospital capacity is a moving target and can change hourly. It is not driven by the facility but by staffing, i.e. (a hospital) could be licensed for 100 beds but only staffed for 80. Hospitals have the capability to ‘surge’ and operate beyond their official capacity when needed. As hospitals fill they can go on temporary ‘diversion.’ This is a temporary status in which health care facilities inform local emergency medical services that its beds are full and it cannot take new patients. Doctors can also discharge patients to make more room and for longer term solutions, can delay or cancel elective surgeries.”

Coffee County E911 Director Dean Blair also acknowledged that emergency services are being greatly taxed at this time, as well.

“Our rescue squads have had more calls then y’all would ever believe and that’s a spin off of what’s going on (with COVID),” Blair said. “They’re getting hit hard and, as James shared, our hospitals are at capacity right now, which pushes them out of our area with these long distance hauls trying to get someone to a medical facility.”

Brown said that he isn’t trying to force anyone to take his word for anything but asks that people do try to stay diligent about the current pandemic.

“We don’t ask that you take our word on everything but encourage the public to do their own research,” Brown said. “In that regard, if you wish to look up numbers and information on statewide or local hospitals we recommend official sites like the U.S. Department of Public Health and Human Services (DHHS). They have thousands of studies and information on these subjects.”

The U.S. DHHS website can be located at healthdata.gov.

Blair said that people that question the media don’t have to look any further than their own community to see the impact that COVID-19 is having.

“I know there is so much information out there and people don’t want to believe the national news – and I don’t either – but with that said, the best thing we can do is to look locally,” Blair emphasized. “Look at what is happening at Medical Center Enterprise and Southeast and Flowers Hospitals (in Dothan).

“If you want to know what is happening in your community look right under your nose and you can see. It’s right in front of us and you can’t deny it.”

Brown also noted at the county commission meeting that Coffee County’s total case numbers have increased from 264 new cases – or 19 per day – every two weeks to 270 new cases every seven days, which is 39 new cases per day. Brown said that Coffee County’s peak was 58 new cases per day earlier this year.

One small positive to take from these numbers is that COVID-19 deaths in the state and county have not significantly increased despite the massive increase in cases and hospitalizations. Brown, however, warned that death totals tend to lag behind hospitalizations and case numbers, which could result in that number increasing drastically in the coming week.

Brown also said that vaccine numbers are also increasing with 25 percent of residents in Coffee County being fully vaccinated currently.

Another issue that has popped up is that emergency rooms are being flooded with people coming for COVID-19 tests and last week the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) issued a statement asking that residents only come to the emergency room if they have an emergency, COVID-19 related or otherwise.

Free COVID-19 tests can be taken at any health department in the state. Brown said that the Coffee County Health Department is currently doing testing on Thursdays. Anyone that wishes to get more information on this free testing can do so at (334) 347-9574.