Coronavirus case spike raises hospital capacity concerns

Coronavirus case spike raises hospital capacity concerns

Hospital, where concerns about cases are starting to grow.

Huntsville hosptial c-e-o david spillers told me - treating one coronavirus patient takes the resources as treating 10 regular patients.

And if the rise in cases doesn't slow down..

The hospital might not have room for people who get sick.

> spillers, "are we willing to do what it takes to keep this from spreading or are we just going to let it run rampid.

If we let it run rampid for too long i can't promise people there is going to be a hospital bed, we are going to have one or if they need a nurse there is going to be one available."

Thursday afternoon, huntsville hospital c-e-o david spillers rang the alarm bell for north alabama.

Hours earlier, the state announced a new record for new coronavirus cases in a day.

More than 11 hundred.

65 of them are in madison county.

David spillers, huntsville hospital ceo "it's very concerning.

'lve seen a substantial rise here in madison county.

We have seen the number of those patients in our hospital rise to a fairly significant level, so we're concerned to say the least at the growing number of patients."

Spillers said 34 patients are hospitalized in madison county- that's the most seen since the virus hit north alabama.

David spillers, huntsville hospital ceo"most of our beds are full and most of our nurses and clinical staff are busy taking care of patients."

He said everyone needs to listen to the message he started issuing in march.

David spillers, huntsville hospital ceo"it goes back to the original message.

Separate, sanitize, cover your face please and let's try to limit the spread of this disease before it gets out of hand."

Because coroanvirus isn't going away any time soon.

David spillers, huntsville hospital ceo"we can't expect to go back to life as we knew it pre-covid and think that's this not going to continue to be a problem."

Spillers said about 9 percent of people tested for coronavirus are coming back with a test that shows they have the virus... that's an increase of 3 percent since monday and about double the national average.

Live in huntsville sm waay 31 news.