Alabama says it is out of ICU beds amid COVID-19 surge; Miss., Texas erect field hospitals, tents

States along the Gulf Coast are running out of hospital beds as the COVID-19 delta variant rips through communities with low vaccination rates, prompting health officials to warn of “uncharted territory” in the pandemic.

Alabama officials said they ran out of space in intensive care units at midweek. Patients will be admitted to hospitals but might have to wait in emergency room areas or be transferred to other facilities as needed.

“We’ve never been here before. We are truly now in uncharted territory in terms of our ICU bed capacity,” Alabama Hospital Association President Don Williamson told WSFA 12 News.

Alabama is the first state to run out of ICU beds but isn’t alone in facing a massive surge in infections. Neighboring Mississippi set up two field hospitals within the last week, while parts of Texas built overflow tents at their hospitals.

Alabama and Mississippi have the worst vaccination rates in the country, at 36% each compared to a national rate of 51% and New England states that have exceeded 65%.

“The impact on hospitals is the result of the fact that vaccination rates in those at high risk for hospitalization are low combined with the widespread transmission of the delta variant,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Americans are also mingling in greater numbers compared to earlier months of the pandemic when many sheltered at home.

Nationally, the delta-driven surge hasn’t produced the numbers Americans saw at the winter peak of the pandemic — at least not yet.

Total hospitalizations in recent days have averaged 84,000 compared to 137,000 in early January, though hard-hit states have crept back to levels near or above what they saw at the national apex.

“We are clearly at the worst part of the pandemic that we’ve seen, throughout, and it’s continuing to worsen,” Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said at a Wednesday press conference.

He said nearly 90% of hospitalizations are in unvaccinated persons and 86% of deaths are in people who haven’t gotten the shots.

The 14% of deaths in vaccinated persons tend to be older residents, in their mid-70s on average, or those with weaker immune systems.

“There is a significant spillover effect from the massive amount of transmission that’s occurring in the population that is then impacting an older group of individuals, primarily,” Dr. Dobbs said.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday but is experiencing mild symptoms.

“Sen. Wicker is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, is in good health, and is being treated by his Tupelo-based physician,” Wicker spokesman Phillip Waller said. “He is isolating, and everyone with whom Sen. Wicker has come in close contact recently has been notified.”

The COVID-19 vaccines were designed to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death but ended up guarding against infection to a high degree.

Breakthrough infections are expected with any vaccines, however, and the COVID-19 shots’ ability to fend off any infection appears to wane after eight months. For that reason, the Biden administration said it will begin rolling out booster doses on Sept. 20.

Federal officials say vaccinated persons who do get a breakthrough infection can transmit the virus as efficiently as unvaccinated persons in some cases, due to how the potent delta variant behaves. But they say unvaccinated persons are far more likely to get infected and remain the super-highways of transmission.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has faulted unvaccinated people for fueling the surge in Alabama.

“Our greatest weapon against COVID-19 today is the vaccine so, if you can, roll up your sleeve and get the shot,” the Republican governor said earlier this month.

Former Sen. Doug Jones, Alabama Democrat, pleaded with holdouts to come forward.

“In the state I love dearly, Covid is surging, schools are closing, there are no ICU beds, but folks still refuse to get vaccinated & they want to fight  — literally —  about whether their kids have to wear a damn mask,” he tweeted.  “Please stop the madness. Get vaccinated.”