The Tennessee health commissioner said Sunday that a Christmas surge of COVID-19 cases - on top of the Thanksgiving surge - “will completely break our hospitals.”
Dr. Lisa Piercey urged Tennesseans to stay within their own family group and not take part in larger gatherings over the Christmas break.
She said has the highest infection rate in the country. It is over 40 percent higher than the national average.
Dr. Piercy also said that active COVID cases have increased by more than two-thirds over the last week.
She said many hospitals still have capacity for COVID patients, but the critical need is for nursing and other medical personnel to treat all the sick.
Dr. Piercy said Knoxville hospitals are nearing capacity.