COVID deaths surge in Alabama, after state reports more deaths than births in 2020

Intensive care unit beds are 97% full in Alabama.

After weeks of rising coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, there are signs that Alabama's latest coronavirus surge may be starting to abate. However, the reprieve comes at a high cost -- with the state now experiencing a near record-breaking surge in virus-related deaths.

"We are seeing a decrease in the number of patients that are in the hospital, but unfortunately, it's not because all of them are getting better and going home to their families. ... These patients are dying," Dr. Kierstin Kennedy, chief of hospital medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital, told ABC News.

Statewide, there are now more than 2,100 patients hospitalized with coronavirus, and intensive care unit capacity also remains tight, with 97% of ICU beds currently in use, according to federal data.

Although numbers are now coming down, said Kennedy, this surge is different from the last one, because "patients are so sick," and are thus requiring longer stays.