Children’s Hospital of Alabama treating 22 COVID patients, the highest ever since the pandemic began!
By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com
Children’s of Alabama is treating 22 COVID-19 patients — including five who are on ventilators –, more children than at any other time during the pandemic, the Birmingham hospital said Thursday.
Children’s reported a “significant increase” in COVID-19 patients treated at the hospital in recent weeks,
As of Thursday, the hospital is treating 22 children with COVID-19. Five of those children are on ventilators.
The 22 patients are the most since the January 2021 surge, when the hospital was treating 13 children for COVID-19.
Children’s attributed the “significant increase” in patients to community spread of the delta variant of COVID-19, which is more contagious and is impacting younger people more than the original strain of the coronavirus.
The coronavirus vaccine is also not approved for children younger than 12, making them susceptible.
“The threat to Alabamians is serious,” the hospital said in a statement Thursday. “There are three proven ways to slow the spread of this highly transmissible strain of the virus: vaccination for everyone 12 and older, masking, especially when indoors, and social distancing.”
The hospital urged residents to take those and other CDC suggested precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including washing hands, using hand sanitizer, and staying home if you are sick.