Today Greenville Mayor Knox White hosted a press conference with Chief Clinical Officers of Prisma Health-Upstate and Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, Prisma Health's President and CEO, and the Greenville Police Chief.
The mayor began the press conference by reminding the public to keep healthcare workers in mind as they are the ones bearing the brunt of the pandemic.
Greenville Police Chief Howie Thompson said they are proactively reaching out to businesses and event planners to remind them of governor's order, especially about no alcochol sales or consumption after 11 p.m.
Thompson said the GPD is working closely with SLED, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, and the Greenville City Fire Department. They will be sending out teams on New Year's Eve to check out venues, restaurants, and bars to ensure compliance with the order.
The Reedy River Grand Ball had been making waves in the community, as many said it was irresponsible to throw such a big celebration. Others said it would unlikely if not impossible to comply with the governor's order. Shortly after the press conference this afternoon, the Rick Erwin Dining Group, which had been scheduled to be the food vendor for the Reedy River Grand Ball, announced they would not be participating and that the event organizers would soon announce the cancellation of the celebration.
Dr. Marcus Blackstone, Chief Clinical Officer with Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, urged the public to stay at home instead of celebrating with a large group in a public venue as the hospitals are already at full capacity.
"We had our call with all five upstate hospitals and everybody is at their capacity bed wise. Everybody's holding patients in the emergency room. We can't create anymore space on our floors. We can't create any more space in our ICUs. Even if we have beds, unfortunately we don't have the staff to staff them," Blackstone said.
He also said that today Bon Secours hit their highest number of COVID patients of whole pandemic
"We're doing everything we can do, but you've really taken the capability out of our hands because you've overwhelmed our hospital systems at this points. This is a personal responsibility and accountability," Blackstone said.
"Please remember the people at the front lines taking care of all our patients."
President and CEO of Prisma Health Mark O’Halla said DHEC reported 1,800 people were hospitalized across the state on Monday alone; this marked a new all-time high.
O'Halla said Prisma currently has 435 COVID-19 patients and 310 of those patients are in the Greenville/Upstate market. To put that in perspective, July previously marked Prisma's highest peak of patients with COVID patients in the entire Prisma system.
Tomorrow Prisma is opening new COVID "step-down unit" in Laurens to take on COVID-19 patients who are no longer acutely ill but still need hospital care.
Wendell James, Chief Clinical Officer with Prisma Health-Upstate, noted again that the Upstate leads South Carolina for COVID cases.
"Right now according to DHEC, the Upstate continues to outpace every other region in the state with respect to the rate of infection. We're seeing nearly a 30% rate of infection in patients that are tested. That is astronomical. That means it is prevalent, wide-spread, and extremely contagious in the community," James said. "When we look at a hundred member grouping of people right now, you have a good chance of about one out of four carrying the virus."
He further said the only people that can help medical professionals stop this and turn it around is the community.
