Marshall County health official: Coronavirus 'is out of control' in county

Marshall County health official: Coronavirus 'is out of control' in county

Chief nursing officer: "right now, marshall county is out of control."

Thank you for joining us.

I'm najahe sherman.

And i'm dan shaffer.

Before we get into why the coronavirus is getting out of control in marshall county... let's quickly breakdown new cases across north alabama.

We now go straight to waay 31's sophia borrelli.

She spoke to the chief nursing officer at marshall medical center.

She joins us live from marshall county with the warning from the hospital.

When asked why woodruff believes the coronavirus is out of control in marshall county- she attributed it to the increase in cases they're seeing here in the county every single day."

Kathy woodruff, marshall medical centers chief nursing officer: "we have 20 positive cases, the next day we have 40 positive cases, the next day we have 60 and then we drop down to ten, but we are not seeing a flattening of the curve at all."

Wednesday, chief nursing officer kathy woodruff said for marshall medical center is seeing a sharp spike in coronavirus patients.

Kathy woodruff, marshall medical centers chief nursing officer: "we really didn't have very many patients in the hospital until two weeks ago.

We had 1 or 2 or a few here or there, but nothing like we've seen in the past 2 weeks and this is the nightmare that i really didn't want to see."

She says currently there are a total of 17 patients with the virus.

13 at marshall medical center south and 4 at marshall medical center north.

Kathy woodruff, marshall medical centers chief nursing officer: "it scares me, you know i don't want to cause panic in the community, but i also want to let everyone know that this is serious, this is very serious."

Health officials say they can handle the current number of patients but that can change.

Judy smith, alabama department of public health: "all the information that we have gotten is that they have been able to manage what is going on, they've been able to manage their ppe, they've been able to manage their patients, but that could change."

Kathy woodruff, marshall medical centers chief nursing officer: "we're fine with the number of patients we have, we're handling it well, we're prepared, but i'd like to see the numbers go down instead of them continuing to go up."

" of those 17 patients at marshall medical centers - 2 are on ventilators.

Health officials stressed the importance of wearing a mask, social distancing, and washing your hands as the best ways people can stop the spread of the virus.

In guntersville - sophia borrelli waay 31