There are at least 57 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Jefferson County, according to information from hospitals and local officials. Of those, at least 18 are on a ventilator.

According to information from Dr. Michael Saag, while speaking to a Rotary Club meeting Wednesday morning, 56 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized at the University at Alabama Birmingham alone. Of those, he said 26 patients were in the Intensive Care Unit.

Leisha Harris, spokesperson for Grandview Medical Center, said Tuesday evening that Grandview had one confirmed COVID-19 patient hospitalized. Grandview did not share the number of suspected cases.

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Delays in testing have created a widening gap between official state counts, which tally cases confirmed through medical testing, and the reality in hospitals, where care must go on without waiting days for a test result.

Alabama’s State Health Officer answered questions via a phone call Tuesday afternoon, shared numbers of coronavirus cases, and said Alabama had a lower percentage of cases hospitalized than other states in the nation. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said during that phone call that of the 242 confirmed cases as of Tuesday, about 8 or 9 percent were hospitalized.

Nine percent of 242 is about 22. But, given the delay in testing, the true number of patients hospitalized in Alabama with the coronavirus is already much higher: There are more than twice as many people being treated for COVID-19 at UAB alone. And, UAB is not the only hospital in Alabama already treating patients.

“Since identifying the patient as potentially having COVID-19, the individual has been separated from other patients in an appropriate infection isolation room which only a small team of caregivers can access," said Harris about the confirmed case at Grandview. "In coordination with the Department of Health, the patient remains in our care.”

A spokesperson for Tenet Health, which in Jefferson County operates both Brookwood Baptist Medical Center and Princeton Baptist Medical Center, declined to release how many, if any, patients in either facility were being hospitalized for the novel coronavirus.

UAB released it's graph of COVID-19 patients on Tuesday, March 24. (UAB)

But cases are also being treated around the state.

Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers said at briefing Wednesday that 41 patients across the Huntsville Hospital System are awaiting COVID-19 test results, including 10 at Huntsville Hospital and 16 at Decatur-Morgan Hospital.

In Lee County, medical teams are reporting another hot spot. At East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, officials said late Tuesday that 7 patients are hospitalized with confirmed cases. That includes 1 from a nursing home. Another 27 patients are hospitalized with suspected cases of COVID-19. Those have not been confirmed by testing yet and are not on the state’s list.

Harris said Tuesday that the Alabama Department of Public Health numbers are compiled from several different sources and acknowledged there may be a lag as cases are confirmed. He said that data showed the 8 and 9 percent number, and his team were working to make sure those numbers were verified. “At this point, I think, I certainly would say that at least 8 or 9 percent of those patients who have been diagnosed are in a hospital setting," he said Tuesday.

As of mid-day Wednesday, the state’s count of confirmed cases climbed to 283. There have been no reported deaths in Alabama from the virus.

Check out all of AL.com’s COVID-19 coverage

Update at 3:40 p.m.: Since this article was published, UAB has released new information showing there are at least 60 confirmed inpatient COVID-19 cases, while a number of other patients are being tested. More than half of those patients are on ventilators, UAB reported.