Cullman, Alabama the city set to host a Alabama GOP rally on Saturday featuring Donald Trump as the headliner declared a COVID-19–related state of emergency on Thursday, The Hill reports.
Alabama had 3,890 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with a seven-day moving average of about 3,000 new infections, according to the CDC. The surge in cases and hospitalizations in Alabama has resulted in more COVID patients requiring an ICU bed than there are actual ICU beds. The Alabama Hospital Association revealed on Wednesday that the state has a 29-bed deficit.
Still, the Trump show must go on.
The state of emergency declaration allows the city to provide additional resources for the rally, that they hope will reduce demand on Cullman Regional, which is already overcrowded with COVID patients. There are 56 coronavirus patients at Cullman Regional and 12 are on ventilators.
Luke Satterfield, an attorney for the city, told AL.com that Cullman will be providing fire/EMT and police personnel to handle some of the rally-related health issues — such as dehydration — that may occur.
“We want to prevent as many non-Covid related things as possible, so our hospital can use its resources to focus on the pandemic and its variants,” he said. “We don’t want to put any extra strain on them.”
Saturday’s rally be the first time Trump will give a speech in Alabama in four years. John Wahl, the party’s chair, has predicted a crowd of over 20,000.
