Cullman County saw a jump in confirmed COVID-19 cases this week, going from one or two new cases every other day or so to 40 cases in one week. As of Friday afternoon, Cullman County has had 114 confirmed cases. Friday had the highest number of cases – 18 – reported in one day.

The increase is concerning to local and state healthcare workers. “Everyone needs to remain cautious and that’s what we encourage everyone to do,” said Lindsey Dossey, vice president of marketing and communications for Cullman Regional Medical Center. 

“The concern for us is that people think it’s over and it’s not over,” she said.

Cullman County is not alone in seeing an increase in confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said, “We have had this week a couple of the highest days that we have seen in terms of total number of cases, and that’s certainly concerning to us.”

On May 26, the state reported more than 600 new cases, the first time Alabama has had so many cases reported in one day. “The numbers are very concerning to us as we see deaths and hotspots,” he said.

Harris said that although some of the increase can be attributed to increased testing, “I certainly don’t think that accounts for all of it. We continue to have disease transmission at the community level throughout many parts of the state, in addition to a few hot spots.”

He and other health experts are encouraging Alabamians to practice social distancing, wash hands and wear masks to protect the community from spreading the disease.

“Those messages are more important than they’ve ever been because now we do have people back out in public, we do have the economy opening,” said Harris. “We need to remember that the people who are most at risk for serious disease are our senior citizens or those people who have chronic health problems.” 

He noted that Alabama’s overall health is not very good, so many people are at risk from the virus. About half of the more than 600 people who have died statewide from COVID-19 were nursing home residents, he said.

“We never want to lose sight of the fact that we are having Alabamians who are dying from COVID-19 disease,” said Harris.

Dr. Rachel Lee, an infectious disease physician at University of Alabama at Birmingham, echoed Dr. Harris’ call to follow social distancing guidelines as more people are going back to work and stores and restaurants are opening.

“We really need to take personal responsibility to care for others as much as we can,” she said.

Wearing masks in public has become a political issue, but both doctors said wearing masks in public spaces when social distance can’t be maintained is about good healthcare.

“As Americans, we really, really care about our personal freedom,” said Lee. But she said the invisibility aspect of the virus, coupled with the fact that people can be infectious for days before showing any symptoms, makes the disease “a lot harder to stop in its track.

“I completely understand about having freedom to choose and I hope that people choose to wear a mask to protect you, and to protect your loved ones and your coworkers, anybody who’s out there because we just don’t know enough about this illness yet to give definitive answers.”

“This is the time more than ever for people to be careful and to respect social distancing guidelines,” said Harris. “When we have community spread going on in the state the way we are, I think the safest course of action is to assume that everyone could be someone who is infectious to you.”

People who don’t follow the social distancing guidelines are putting themselves and others at risk, he said. “Personal responsibility is a big part of what we want people to understand.” 

Testing in Alabama is still fairly limited to people who are showing symptoms of the disease. According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, nearly 3,000 Cullman residents have been tested for the virus. Dossey said as of Thursday, Cullman Regional had tested 986 people, 45 of whom were waiting test results. The hospital has had 26 people test positive, and currently is treating two patients who have tested positive for the disease. 

Even as cases compounded Friday, there was also good news coming out of Cullman Regional. Rolando Marquez, 51, was released after a 52-day stay for COVID-19. Healthcare workers lined the halls and cheered as Marquez waved goodbye from his stretcher.