For the state of Alabama:
ICU beds available: 475
ICU beds needed: 119
(CNN is garbage.)
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The cnn story and this thread title clearly state the city name Montgomery.
The city of Montgomery, Alabama, which has only one intensive care unit bed left, is sending sick patients to Birmingham, more than an hour away, officials said.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said on Wednesday that of the four regional hospitals, one is short three ICU beds, two have no ICU beds, and one has just one bed.
âRight now, if you are from Montgomery, and you need an ICU bed, you are in trouble,â Reed said at a press conference. âIf youâre from central Alabama, and you need an ICU bed, you may not be able to get one.â
The health care system in the stateâs capital is âmaxed out,â Reed said.
Your link does nothing to refute this reporting.
No, but my prior post explains why the story, if true, is garbage. This is not some dire problem brought about by COV19. It is just not uncommon for people from a smaller town to go to a hospital in a larger town.
They didnt lie. Their implication though, is trash.
When my grandmother, who lived in a small town about 70 miles from Dallas, got ill, she always went to doctors and hospitals in Dallas.
From the article:
âRight now, if you are from Montgomery, and you need an ICU bed, you are in trouble,â Reed said at a press conference. âIf youâre from central Alabama, and you need an ICU bed, you may not be able to get one.â
The health care system in the stateâs capital is âmaxed out,â Reed said."
That;'s garbage. Your arenât in trouble and you will be able to get an ICU bed. You just go to the big city on the horizon. We are talking about a 90 mile distance here.
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Transporting a patient requiring an ICU bed 90 miles is expensive and dangerous. Your anecdote about a non-ICU requiring grandmother traveling is a non sequitur.
25 percent capacity.
Most of those used probably are not for CV19.
Thanks for finding this.
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Reporting?
That is fearmonger propaganda.
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Even with record low fuel prices?
Letâs take a lookâŚ
That 119 number is a projection. As in, itâs not the actual counted number of current ICU patients. They even give a range. Might want to find and use the real number instead of using a modelâs projection.
Oh, gee!
Florida, Georgia and âBama are nowhere near the top with regards to COVID 19 cases. â â â â that shutdown â â â â â
No, every neighborhood does not need its own ICU unit because it is too dangerous to take them to the hospital. And if they are in that shape, you donât put them in the back of a truck, you know.
Sure, and transporting a critically ill patient 10-15 minutes to the nearest ICU staffed hospital, or simply moving them to the ICU of the hospital where theyâre already admitted is a whole lot better for the patient than transporting them several hours by ground or paying for a helicopter transfer which will still take time.
cnn specializes in utter â â â â â â â â â â
they know some people will buy it
Well, if we are going to caution about the use of estimates in articles, then lets see the real COV19 problems listed in the article in the OP:
"She said the holiday weekend and loosened restrictions could cause the virus to âgo like a prairie fire ⌠It is now really having the potential to get out of control.â
âSeveral hoursâ⌠to go 90 miles by ambulance?
Most states Dept of Health sites have numbers of actual ICU beds, ICU beds being used and ICU beds being used for covid. For instance here in Indiana the percentages are 16% of the total 2591 ICU beds being used for COVID 19 pts. 46.2 are being used for other reasons. Surgery, other illnesses things like that. This is why flattening the curve was necessary, There are currently 37.8% of the total ICU beds available in Indiana. IF there were to be a big spikeâŚthat number of available beds would be taxed for sure.
How long do you think it takes to arrange a transfer, prepare the patient for transport, wait for an equipped and staffed mobile ICU to arrive, load the patient with handoff, drive 90 miles at 65-70 mph if mostly highway, handoff at receiving hospital, then transport patient to the floor?
I know. Alabama doesnât list those numbers on their COVID dashboard. I looked.
So it is actually less.
That isnât worth depriving young healthy people liberty.
They are the ones doing the work.
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All we can do is hope.
