Last week, Alabama ICU bed count reportedly trended into negative territory, which drew alarm from many throughout the state.

According to the Alabama Hospital Association’s Dr. Don Williamson, while that was an unfortunate development, a more important indicator was the “direction” of ICU bed numbers.

During an appearance on this week’s broadcast of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” Williamson explained the significance of the ICU bed count indicator and exactly what the “negative” number meant.

“The reality is hospitals are able to create ICU beds in what previously have been non-ICU care spaces,” he said. “And as a result, we’ve got hospitals around the state that are taking care of 15 to 20 ICU patients than they have ICU beds. They’re providing ICU care in non-traditional ICU spaces. So, that creates a negative number, and when you sum that against all the ICU beds in the state, it comes out negative, meaning we have about 19 more patients who are getting ICU-level care than we have ICU beds.”

“What that really means is that’s not the absolute number,” Williamson continued. “It’s the direction. And whether you have 10 beds or -10 beds, the way you have to understand that is that in Alabama, ICU beds are not routinely available. So a hospital may show that they have five ICU beds when they fill out the survey early in the morning. By lunchtime, they may well have none. Or we may find one here, two here that are already pre-committed for a surgery that is ongoing.”

“So, at the end of the day, where we are now is we are in a critical situation where we cannot guarantee you will not be housed in the ER for, in some cases, days getting ICU-level care because we can’t put you in a formal ICU bed in a hospital,” he added.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.