DCH Urges Public Against Non-Emergent ER Visits

TUSCALOOSA, AL — As COVID-19 cases once again surge locally and across the nation, DCH Health System is asking the public to not come to its emergency room for COVID-19 testing or care unless the situation is indeed an emergency.

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DCH said on Wednesday that its emergency rooms have been inundated with patients who have non-emergent COVID-19 symptoms. This has ultimately resulted in significantly longer wait times for all patients, thus prompting the hospital system to urge residents to stay home if their symptoms do not require immediate care.

"As you have likely seen, the COVID-19 inpatient numbers at our hospitals have been going back up," DCH said in its most recent update. "Because of this, many people with COVID-19 symptoms have come to the emergency room to be tested and potentially receive care. This has caused the emergency rooms at our hospitals to be extremely busy. These conditions have led to long wait times."

Indeed, COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on a sharp rise in Tuscaloosa since the holiday season, with DCH reporting 56 total inpatients on Wednesday. This is more than triple the number of hospitalizations from two weeks ago for the health care provider and the most inpatients since Oct. 12, 2021.

Fears of the Omicron variant have prompted schools and other institutions to reconsider their COVID-19 protocols, as public health officials worry about the transmissibility of the new strain of the virus.

This can be seen in the most recent numbers published by DCH on Wednesday, which show that 20 of its hospitalizations — roughly 36% — are patients who are fully vaccinated.

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