Decatur-Morgan Hospital sees another record-high in COVID-19 patients
The hospital president says the rate at which patients are coming in could be detrimental
MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. (WAFF) - Decatur-Morgan Hospital hit another high in positive COVID-19 patients on Friday.
Right now, they are treating 44 positive patients and there are dozens of staff members out in quarantine.
“The thing I think that scares me more than anything is we had 20 positives yesterday,” Decatur-Morgan Hospital President Kelli Powers said.
That was just in one day.
Powers says the rate at which people are coming into the hospital, could be detrimental.
“It means that we’re going to have to look at elective surgeries to see if the surgeries that require an in patient bed, that we have a bed for them,” Powers said.
They’re already running low on beds, and even lower on staff. Monday, the new COVID-19 unit at parkway will open, however, it’s not going to open to full capacity.
“We can go up to 36, but we don’t have the staff or the physician coverage to go up to 36,” Powers said.
For now, the new unit will open with 15 beds, 10 of those already have patients waiting for them. Powers says her staff is preparing for an even bigger surge in January, but needs to hire more even staff before then.
“People need to do the right thing and wear their masks, social distance, especially with thanksgiving coming,” Powers said.
Powers says for now, they’re planning to continue elective surgeries. She’s also looking for nurses, doctors, technicians and other staff.
To apply, click here.
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