Cases jump in county; test results coming more quickly

Cases of coronavirus in Marengo County jumped threefold since last week thanks to test results coming in more quickly, said Whitfield Regional Hospital CEO/Administrator Doug Brewer.

Since testing first started, WRH has administered some 200. Of those, 126 came back negative and 20 were positive. Results on the others have not been returned.

Not all the positive cases are from Marengo County, however, since WRH is the only testing site in a three or four county area, Brewer explained. As of Monday morning, Marengo County had 13 cases of COVID-19 according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

On a positive note, the first case in the county was a hospital employee who went back to work Monday. Another employee is expected to return later this week. Several other employees are waiting for their test results to come back.

For the most part the hospital workers are “doing pretty good” under the stress, since WRH is “the highest risk place you can be,” Brewer continued.

“We’re really locked down now,” he added. In-patient census remains steady, but elective procedures are postponed until the pandemic has passed.

Brewer said the number of cases has gone up rapidly because test results are coming back more quickly. What used to take up to seven days now is taking only three or four.