Number of COVID patients at Madison Hospital declines, up in other hospitals
Published 9:27 am Wednesday, August 18, 2021
MADISON – Here is a look at how Madison is faring in terms of new COVID-19 cases and patients at Madison Hospital. The number of COVID patients at Madison Hospital rose drastically in the middle of last week, then fell to end the week near where it was a week ago. It has since dropped slightly.
A week ago, the Huntsville Hospital Health Systems (HH) reported 45 COVID patients at Madison Hospital. Eight of those were in ICU with three on ventilators. According to the numbers released Tuesday, Madison Hospital now has 31 COVID patients with six in ICU and four on ventilators. Although the decline in number locally is good news, the number of COVID patients throughout the HH footprint has steadily increased.
HH says 329 patients have COVID, up from 266 a week ago. There are 105 COVID patients in ICU with 53 on ventilators. This is up from 86 patients in ICU and 35 on ventilators a week ago. This includes hospitals in Madison, Limestone, Morgan, Colbert and Franklin counties.
In Madison County alone, there are 159 patients with COVID at HH facilities. Forty-two are in ICU with 28 on ventilators. That number is close to the same it was a week ago, with 152 COVID patients at HH hospitals in Madison County on Aug. 10 and 39 in ICU.
Huntsville Hospital and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Huntsville had a significant increase from 107 to 128 in one week, but was offset county-wide by the decline in numbers at Madison Hospital.
Marshall Medical Centers in Guntersville and Albertville contributed a good portion of the overall increase in COVID patients over the past week. Guntersville rose from 12 to 23 patients, while Albertville increased from 19 to 38. Helen Keller Hospital in the Shoals went from 35 to 47 in one week.
The Alabama Department of Public Health still shows Madison County on a decline in new cases, but the daily number of cases changes frequency as data comes in throughout the week — making it difficult at times to accurately track.
According to its COVID Dashboard Wednesday morning, the rate of new positive cases in Madison County fell by 16.4% over the past seven days. Last week started out with 200 new cases reported and spiked mid-week at 211. Since then, the numbers have been in decline with 54 cases reported on Monday, but that number is expected to rise today as new data comes in. There were 138 new cases reported Friday, 104 on Saturday and 86 on Sunday. There have been no new deaths from COVID in Madison County reported over the past week.
Limestone County has seen a 5.8% drop in new cases over the past week.
Madison City Schools is still trying to stem a recent outbreak of COVID cases among students. Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said last week 89 students had COVID, the largest number the school district has seen. There have been over 100 students with COVID since school began on Aug. 4, he said.
The graphs below show current COVID cases throughout the Huntsville Hospital Health System.
