Alabama’s crisis surrounding a lack of Intensive Care Unit beds is escalating.
Hospital capacity across Alabama is reaching a breaking point. Now, over half of ICU patients in Alabama are coronavirus cases. And with around 1,615 patients in need of ICU treatment across the state, there are at least 66 more ICU patients than there are ICU beds. The lack of available beds has left some patients waiting on treatment in emergency rooms or on gurneys in hallways.
Officials with the CDC say Alabama has the second lowest vaccination rate in the country. Mississippi has the lowest.
Eighty-four percent of coronavirus patients hospitalized in Alabama are unvaccinated.