According to an update from Cullman Regional, there are currently no patients or hospital staff with a positive COVID-19 test. All patients previously on a ventilator due to the virus have now tested negative for the virus. There are 21 patients waiting for test results.

According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, there have been 58 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cullman County.

Statewide there have been nearly 8,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 300 deaths as a result of the disease. Under CDC guidelines, deaths are attributed to COVID-19 if the deceased tested positive for the virus or if the death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause, even if a test was not done.

Dr. Karen Landers of ADPH said some coroners are also testing for COVID-19. Cullman County Coroner Jeremy Kilpatrick said he has not done any testing because he hasn’t had a case that met the criteria. For the coroner to be tested, the person would have had to die at home, had some symptoms of the disease, but had not been tested and have no previous diagnosed medical conditions.

The CDC guidelines make counting deaths from COVID-19 “more straight forward,” said Landers, but ADPH still reviews each reported death. They look at information about the patient such as age, race and ethnicity, symptoms he or she experienced and any underlying health issues the patient had.

“When we’re conveying information in an unprecedented situation like this, it’s epidemiologically correct to look at each record,” she said. The findings provide doctors with more information about who may be at more risk of dying from the virus.

“We’re trying to get a sense of the mortality of this,” she said. So far, she said, it appears people with underlying health issues such as kidney disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or a combination of chronic illnesses are at the greatest risk.