Los Angeles (AFP)
California authorities announced Thursday that they have deployed at least 166 refrigerated trailers to serve as temporary morgues in hospitals overwhelmed by Covid-19-related deaths.
With at least 2,500 deaths from the coronavirus each week, California has become one of the main hotbeds of the pandemic in the United States and traditional mortuaries are full.
Contamination had started to multiply even before Thanksgiving family reunions at the end of November spread the coronavirus even further, and the most populous US state is now preparing for an "explosion on an explosion" of cases , fueled by the Christmas and New Years festivities.
Mark Ghilarducci, director of emergency services in California, has therefore activated the "plan for managing mass deaths", to ensure that all the deceased can be "treated with respect and dignity".
As most refrigerated trailers are not specifically designed as mortuaries, they will be fitted out to at least double their body storage capacity.
Members of the National Guard were also dispatched this week to assist forensic services in Los Angeles, where one person dies from Covid-19 every fifteen minutes.
According to the Los Angeles Times, funeral directors are forced to turn away grieving families because they no longer have the capacity to care for the deceased.
The majority of counties in California, including Los Angeles - where ambulances often turn around for hours before finding a bed for their patient - have restrictions in place that restrict travel and activities.
© 2021 AFP