DCH Health System Ceases Daily Reporting Of COVID-19 Numbers

TUSCALOOSA, AL — DCH Health System has made the decision to cease posting daily COVID-19 updates on its website, which comes amid consistently low hospitalization numbers and a leadership change for the west Alabama health care provider.

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The hospital system took to social media on Thursday to announce that after two years and eight months of posting daily updates that included the number of hospitalizations, patients on ventilators and vaccination data, Thursday's post would be the last, pending any new noticeable surges of new COVID-19 inpatients.

Thursday's final update reported 13 total inpatients testing positive for COVID-19, which is only three less cases for this time last year and substantially lower than the 57 hospitalizations seen on Nov. 18, 2020.

New DCH Health System CEO Katrina Keefer said early on after being hired that she planned to do away with the daily updates if the situation at present improved.

ALSO READ: New DCH CEO Making Good On Promise Of Leadership Culture Shift

“The COVID-19 numbers at DCH have remained below twenty for many weeks," she told Patch on Friday. "Additionally, the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has Tuscaloosa in the moderate category for the community transmission rate of COVID-19. It seems the timing is right to shift the focus to rising flu cases and other areas of health concern for the communities we serve. We will continue to monitor COVID-19 levels and if there is a significant upward trend then this decision will be reevaluated.”

According to the latest data from the Alabama Department of Public Health, 831 Tuscaloosa County residents have died after testing positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic — 162 just in 2022.

What's more, a total of 66,506 cases have been identified to date for Tuscaloosa County.

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