Today the City of Greenville hosted its third COVID-19 press conference to allow local authorities to address common concerns.
Greenville Mayor Knox White began reviewing things the city is attempting to continue even during coronavirus and how they have adjusted popular programs.
"We have online something called Sound Check which is a live concert featuring local bands that otherwise would be playing at Downtown Alive and Main Street Friday which of course are suspended," White said.
Additionally, for those who have small kids at home the Public Works Department hosted a virtual Touch A Truck.
The mayor also touched on recent statistics which have launched new investigations.
"There's some very troubling statistics out there that in South Carolina now 46% of the people with the virus are African American. It's more important than ever that we do a deep dig in our community to find out if that's the case here and if so what we can do about it," White said.
Jay Marett of Greenville County Emergency Management said over 200 first responders and health care workers from an 11 county region have been tested since March 30th.
The last shipment from the Strategic National Stockpile was received last Friday.
Marett reports they are working more heavily with the private sector and helping other organizations get PPE directly from the private sector.
Dr. Marcus Blackstone with Bon Secours St. Francis Health System reports there is still a significant volume of COVID-19 patients, but that numbers are not not climbing as badly as they were in the previous week.
He described their outlook as cautiously optimistic as they continue to keep an eye out for a potential surge.
He also said everyone in their hospital system now wears masks; other hospital systems in the Upstate are doing this as well.
Non-clinical areas are able to wear cloth masks, while others wear N-95 masks.
Dr. Blackstone recommended wearing a mask and gloves when grocery shopping to protect against germs.
He said it is important to understand that the ER is sectioned off for non-COVID patients and other areas are also dedicated non-COVID spaces.
"What we don't want is people to stay home and not access care with things like chest pain or potential stroke symptoms or people who continue to get sick but don't want to come to our hospitals. I want to assure everybody... that we have places for safe care," Blackstone said.
Dr. Burke Royster, superintendent of Greenville County Schools, said that while the transition from traditional school to eLearning has been a large shift things are ultimately going smoothly in the school system.
Thus far, they have distributed over 300,000 meals to students and will continue doing so during spring break.
They mapped out low Wi-Fi areas in Greenville County and have sent out vehicles to allow Wi-Fi hotspots.
GCS has also upped their Wi-Fi at all schools so work can be done in the parking lots of schools if necessary.
Dr. Royster reported approximately 57,000 students out of their total of 77,000 students countywide have been utilizing Google Classroom.
This is particularly striking, he pointed out, considering pre-K through 2nd graders are working with packets instead of online.
Additionally, the school is fixing any school-provided technology that may break; over 800 devices have been fixed and put back online thus far.
Lauren Stephens with the Salvation Army said although they operate at about 99% capacity year round, they have been able to rearrange shelters to ensure safety for the homeless community.
She reported they have also been supplying food for individuals who should remain at home like senior citizens and the immunocompromised.
Ryan Duerk with Miracle Hill Ministries wrapped up the press conference and reported they have blocked all volunteers and guests for the time being.
Treatment for the homeless community is going well, Duerk said.
Only four people in the Upstate have needed to be tested for COVID-19 thus far.
One in Oconee County did test positive.
Duerk said a main concern is the upcoming growth of need and increase in number of people experiencing homelessness.
He gave an example of those who are living in motels who may be furloughed from their jobs and begin to lose their homes.
The press conferences will no longer be held at the Greenville Convention Center.
It will now be hosted solely online.
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