No Children Hospitalized At DCH Despite Statewide Worries

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Despite a sustained rise in new coronavirus hospitalizations in Tuscaloosa, DCH has yet to report any inpatients in the age range of 0-17, which provides a small short term comfort as more children are hospitalized at present than any other time in the pandemic.

DCH Health System spokesperson Andy North confirmed this to Patch on Friday, saying that no one in that age cohort had been hospitalized for the virus in the last 30 days. He also said the hospital was working to compile more detailed demographics on those receiving treatment for the virus.

Apart from the news that no children are hospitalized in Tuscaloosa, the situation remains dire for DCH as it reported Friday that 93.6% of inpatients have not been vaccinated.

This comes as DCH reported 129 total coronavirus inpatients on Friday, which is more than double the number of hospitalizations on the same day two weeks ago. Of those patients, 27 are receiving critical care, with 14 being treated on a ventilator. And while Friday's numbers show no children hospitalized, it's important to note that students returned for in-person learning in both the city and county school systems on Thursday.

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But once thought by many to be primarily an illness that affects the elderly, the coronavirus has started infecting children at an increasing rate, according to officials with Children's of Alabama in Birmingham.

Patch reported on Friday when the hospital said it was treating 22 COVID-19 patients, five of whom are on ventilators.

"There has been a significant increase in the number of COVID positive patients treated at Children's of Alabama in recent weeks," the hospital said in a statement. "For comparison, 13 was our highest COVID census in January 2021 at the height of the last surge."

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