Doctor Who Survived COVID-19 Bewildered by Public Disregard

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Medical professionals in Alabama are witnessing two starkly different realities: Inside the hospitals, they attend to patients fighting for their lives in overcrowded intensive care units.

Outside the medical centers' doors, they see a society that appears to be blithely ignoring the safety precautions that experts have recommended to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Dr. Michael Saag is an infectious diseases expert who treats patients at a hospital run by the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He says he is greatly disheartened by the lax attitude many have shown.

And he worries about Alabama’s future at a time when the virus is posing more of a threat than ever.