MOBILE MORGUE READY AT B'VILLE VALLEY BAPTIST HOSPITAL

KVIA

Texas Tribune

More than 3,000 Texans have now died from the coronavirus and counties in the state are preparing for even more deaths by expanding their capacities to store bodies, some by requesting refrigerated trailer.

The rate of deaths in Texas has been accelerating. On Friday, the state surpassed 3,000 deaths 24 days after 2,000 deaths were reported. It took 53 days to get from the first death to 1,000 deaths and 39 days to get from 1,000 to 2,000 deaths.

Nearly 40 percen of Texas’ fatalities were residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Other hot-spots include prisons and meatpacking plants.

The death rate is a lagging indicator and has not yet followed the same steep curve as new cases and hospitalizations, but experts warn the worst could come. On average over the past week, 63 people have died daily, with a peak of 105 people on Thursday. The week prior, on July 3, this 7-day average was 35.

Austin and Travis County are “in the process of procuring a refrigerated truck to face the surge in Covid-19 deaths,” Travis County public information officer Hector Nieto said.

The mobile morgue will be placed where there “is space for it” and where it is needed the most, whether closer to hospitals or to the county morgue. Nieto could not confirm when the unit will arrive.

Cameron County is also preparing for a worst-case scenario and bought a 53-foot refrigerated trailer in case morgues become full, Juan Martinez, the local emergency management department’s operations section chief told the Valley Morning Star.

“Our hope is we never have to use it,” he told the newspaper.

Hidalgo County also said that they will share a refrigerated FEMA trailer with neighboring Cameron County.

“I’m going to let them take this one, because they are in dire need," Ricardo Saldaña, Hidalgo County emergency management coordinator, said.