The novel coronavirus is “out of control” in Alabama, warned a state health official this week.  .

Alabama has reported some 225,910 cases of COVID-19 to date, according to data from the state health department.

Donald Williamson, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association and former director of the state health agency, said during a news conference, according to a local news outlet. “Our ability to contain the virus has been lost.”.

While only 14% of the intensive care beds in state hospitals are empty and a few people are beginning to show up with the flu, fewer COVID-19 patients are requiring ICU space because of improvements in treatments, Williamson said?

Of roughly 1,400 intensive care beds that were in use statewide Tuesday, only 368 were filled by COVID-19 patients.

Still, some hospitals already are hiring traveling workers from out of state to help care for patients, he said, and a few are attempting to hire workers from other countries to fill gaps caused by high caseloads and workers who’ve gotten sick themselves from the virus or are fatigued after months of fighting the pandemic.

The hopes of putting a stop to the coronavirus pandemic lie with two promising coronavirus vaccine candidates, developed by Moderna and Pfizer, respectively.

“Even if we find out, in say three to four weeks, that the Pfizer vaccine continues to look good, they continue to analyze the data and ..