Mayor Knox White held a joint media briefing alongside Chief Clinical Officers from Prisma Health and Bon Secours St. Francis Health System.
As COVID cases rise in South Carolina, Greenville County has been reporting the highest new case numbers daily.
Prisma Health's Dr. Wendall James said that hospitals are also filling up and on track to reach capacity soon as a result.
"When you look at the situation inside of Prisma, we are at 200 patients in the entire system, Upstate and Midlands, and we peaked out at around 300," James said. "So we're two thirds of the way back to July, and we've done that in a very very short period of time. When you look at the curve, it's nearly straight up, and it's actually rising steeper than it did in July."
Dr. Marcus Blackstone of Bon Secours reciprocated this observation and explained that proper mask wearing is crucial in reducing the spread of COVID.
James and Blackstone also recommended that all holiday gatherings are kept to a minimum, only inviting immediate family and maintaining a degree of social distancing the entire time.
They additionally suggested at-risk individuals wear masks while gathering in homes for added precaution.
