FEMA sends refrigerated trucks to New York City to hold bodies-Detroit areas also-Oakland

[Treyfish]

FEMA sends refrigerated trucks to New York City to hold bodies

By ERIN DURKIN

03/30/2020 02:43 PM EDT

FEMA is sending refrigerated trucks to New York City to serve as temporary morgues as the death toll from the coronavirus grows.

There is a “desperate need” for morgue space in Queens in particular, FEMA regional administrator Thomas Von Essen said Monday. The borough has the most coronavirus cases in the city, and Elmhurst hospital has been swamped with gravely ill patients.

“We are going to have an awful lot of folks that aren’t going to make it,” Von Essen said at a press conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio, as they welcomed the hospital ship USNS Comfort to the city.

As of Monday morning, 790 people have died in the city from the coronavirus. There are 36,221 confirmed cases.


:tiphat:https://www.politico.com/states/new-...bodies-1269600

 

[Treyfish]

Detroit-area hospitals need refrigerated trucks for the coronavirus dead

Detroit's Sinai-Grace Hospital made national headlines this week after CNN showed photographs allegedly leaked by staff of white body bags piled up in empty rooms and propped on chairs amid the coronavirus surge.

The revelations come as metro Detroit hospitals say they've begun storing bodies in refrigerated trucks to handle the surge.

Brian Taylor, a spokesman for the Detroit Medical Center, which includes Sinai-Grace, told Detroit Free Press on Monday that COVID-19 "has caused significantly greater than normal mortality rates in the Detroit community."

As of Tuesday afternoon, 1,602 people in Michigan have died from COVID-19, and there were 25,635 confirmed cases, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Detroit and Wayne County have the highest number of fatalities from COVID-19, with a death toll of 760 people.

"This has resulted in capacity issues at funeral homes and morgues outside of Sinai-Grace Hospital," Taylor said. "Patients who pass away at our hospital are treated with respect and dignity, remaining on-site until they can be appropriately released."

Taylor was asked specifically about CNN's report of body bags stacked in rooms at Sinai-Grace, and said in an email:

"Like hospitals in New York and elsewhere, we have secured additional resources such as mobile refrigeration units to help temporarily manage the capacity issue caused by COVID-19."...
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-he...ronavirus-dead