Citywide Mask Order Unlikely As DCH Logs 115 COVID-19 Inpatients

TUSCALOOSA, AL — School is set to start back this week for the county's two major school systems and leaders remain stoic in the face of calls for renewed public health guidelines. This comes as DCH Health System on Tuesday saw its overall coronavirus-positive inpatients total climb to 115, which is the highest mark for hospitalizations since Jan. 29.

Of those patients, 30 are receiving critical care in the system's intensive care unit, underscoring another stark milestone for the three-hospital system that has not been seen since the peak of the last major surge around the holidays.

Furthermore, DCH's 115 inpatient case total is more than double the hospital's total two weeks ago when it reported 56 hospitalizations as numbers began to steadily rise.

While demand for the vaccine has remained low, Tuscaloosa continues to see its number of vaccinated citizens improve, with Tuesday's update from the Alabama Department of Public Health showing 81,966 Tuscaloosa County residents have received at least one dose, while 66,494 residents have completed their vaccination series. As previously noted, though, this still falls well short of half the population of the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area as DCH stands by its assertion that more than 90% of recent hospitalizations have been those who are not vaccinated.

Click here to subscribe to our Tuscaloosa Daily newsletter and breaking news alerts

But as new cases and hospitalizations continue a sharp and noticeable rise, particularly among the unvaccinated, officials have expressed that no new public health mandates are on the immediate horizon. This comes as institutions and elected leaders alike await any news directives or updates from Gov. Kay Ivey, who has yet to waiver with respect to reintroducing public health guidelines that were allowed to expire over the summer.

In his most recent "Mayor's Minute" posted on Tuesday, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox said, due to the range of disciplines under the purview of City Hall, the city will leave masking requirements up to each department. He then used the analogy that public interaction for the Tuscaloosa Police Department is drastically different than that of Tuscaloosa Fire Rescue Service or municipal court or even information technology.

"Since March of 2020, we've let data and science drive our decision making," Maddox said on Monday. "We continue to be plugged in on this issue."

With that in mind, though, Maddox once again stressed that the city remains in close contact with DCH Health System, Tuscaloosa City Schools and the University of Alabama as the situation progresses.

"Right now, the state of Alabama is not under a declaration of emergency," Maddox said. "Right now, the city is not under a declaration of emergency and I don’t see any movement among the City Council to declare one, so at this point there are no plans for a mask mandate."

With the University of Alabama set to begin in-person instruction on its Tuscaloosa campus next week on Aug. 18, University Medical Center will be offering Saturday COVID-19 vaccine clinics Aug. 14 and 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for UA students, faculty, staff and UMC patients. UMC will be offering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during the clinics and appointments are required.

Many institutions — such as the Tuscaloosa County School System and Tuscaloosa City Schools — are set to go into the school year under an option policy for face-coverings, while the University of Alabama began requiring face coverings last Friday. This came in response to the local uptick in new cases seen in recent weeks.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.