As cases of COVID-19 surge in Alabama, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UAB, said now is not the time for Alabamians to let their guard down.
“First of all, we had a new record number of cases reported in the United States as a whole,” Marrazzo said. “Just shy of 140,000 new cases and that was accompanied by almost 1,500 people who were reported to have died of this infection.”
With 62,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States, Marrazzo said we are at the highest rate since last April when we saw 59,900 hospitalizations.
Marrazzo said the virus is likely taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and increased social gatherings.
“As this gets worse, people are going to experience more family members and friends dying,” Marrazzo said.
For Marrazzo and her colleagues, that statement hits close to home.
“I have a colleague who has two elderly parents right now,” Marrazzo said. “One of whom just died and one who is struggling with COVID. (That’s) a first for us in our small community of providers.”
Marrazzo said taking action to avoid increased deaths is imperative.
“I think people pay attention when things get bad,” Marrazzo said. “Like those pictures of New York, with bodies being stacked outside, we do not want to get there.”
Marrazzo said there are ways to lower the number of infected individuals.
“The mask wearing consistency and paying attention to the density of groups,” Marrazzo said. “If you really can space people out and you don’t congregate without a mask, I really think we can get back to what we did in the summer.”
Marrazzo said UAB Hospital is prepared if another surge of cases arise.
“We’ve been geared up,” Marrazzo said. “We have contingency plans, we can open extra units if we need to. We have a command center that really closely monitors this and it’s not going to be a surprise, which is a good thing. I think we’re well prepared, it’s just I really hope we don’t have to go that route.”
