The lack of storage space for those who died at the coronavirus forced the agency that regulates air quality across the South to issue an emergency order on Sunday night, lifting the limit for the number of cremations allowed. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has issued the emergency order to temporarily suspend the permit requirements for crematoria.
CBS Los Angeles reports that the order was issued at the request of both the Los Angeles County coroner’s office and the LA Department of Public Health.
The Air Quality Management District limits the number of cremations that can be carried out each month due to air quality regulations. However, the pandemic has more than doubled the death toll across the region, putting hospitals under pressure. funeral homes and crematoria, the agency reported.
According to the order, on January 15, more than 2,700 bodies will be stored in both hospitals and the office of the coroner. “Mobile morgues” have already been set up outside hospitals in Los Angeles County, where a person dies from coronavirus every eight minutes, the country said last week Twitter.
AP
“The current death rate is more than double that of the years of pre-pandemic, leading to hospitals, funeral homes and crematoria exceeding capacity without processing the backlog in cases,” AQMD said in a news release on Sunday. “The LA County Medical Examiner Coroner and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have requested that South Coast AQMD suspend limits on cremations to protect public health and to respond to the current emergency.”
The order will be valid for at least ten days.
LA County reported 1,014,662 cases of coronavirus and 13,848 deaths due to the disease as of Sunday. According to the latest state figures Monday, 7,328 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus in LA County. 23% of them are in beds for guard units.