Temporary Morgue erected in LA parking lot uses 10 tractor trailers to deal with overflow due to deaths in Covid-19

California Gov. Newsom’s governor’s office announced Thursday that a temporary morgue will be built in the parking lot next to the LA County Coroner’s building to handle the record number of bodies he sees.

The facility will include at least five state-of-the-art 53-foot trailers and another five provided by the province, along with an unknown number of “ground coolers.”

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An AP photo taken Thursday recalls images from New York last spring. It showed two temporary refrigerator carts at County-USC Medical Center Hospital. A statement from California’s Emergency Services Office contains photos of a similar trailer arriving in the badly affected Imperial County. According to OES, the state has deployed a total of 88 such units.

Country statistics showed that a total of 761 beds were available in the province’s 70 “911 receiving” hospitals. There were 54 adults for ICU beds.

The 70 hospitals with emergency rooms have a total licensed capacity of approximately 2500 ICU beds. Last week, the country had an average of 31 available adults for ICU beds on a daily basis, with 78% of all ICU patients in the province being treated for COVID. Ten days ago, the percentage of Covid-infected ICU patients in the same hospitals was about 50%.

Los Angeles County on Friday reported its first count of more than 300 coronavirus-related daily deaths at 318. By comparison, an average of 170 people die each day in the country from all other causes.

The 318 new deaths increase the nationwide pandemic to 11,863. To make another comparison, it is more deaths in a year than any other premature cause of death, including heart disease, according to the latest figures from the country.

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And now, according to LA Public Health Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Simon, the record deaths and nearly-record 18,313 COVID-19 cases recorded Friday are just the beginning.

“This is very clearly the latest boom for the winter holidays and New Year,” Simon said. ‘And it’s likely to continue for the next week or two. We expect these numbers to remain high over the next few weeks. ”

The increasing number of deaths has led to problems at some hospitals. The facilities ran out to store corpses, especially as funeral homes were overrun and could no longer be accepted. A California National Guard team was earlier sent to the country’s coroner’s office to help manage the rising death toll.

California OES director Mark Ghilarducci said in a video on Friday that he is implementing the state plan for multi-casualties. “This is a plan to combat mass deaths carried out by our law enforcement division,” Ghilarducci revealed.

‘We work with our sheriffs, our mortuaries and our mortuary owners to make sure there is a balance across the country, region by region, in dealing with the deceased and how we can ensure that we do not get huge backing not, or if we do back up, which is treated with respect and dignity, ”Ghilarducci said of the plan.

One goal is ‘that we have the necessary equipment available or materials needed for coroners and medical examiners to deal with the offenders effectively.’ he continues. “We will continue to work with each of our 58 provinces to ensure that each of these people is cared for in the most respectful manner.”

According to an OES statement:

In response to the needs currently being voiced by provincial officials, Cal OES has facilitated the distribution of 88 cool trailers. Ten of the trailers were leased by Cal OES and were specifically designed to serve as temporary mortuaries. They were sent to places in the provinces of Imperial, Sonoma, San Bernardino, Monterey, and Los Angeles. In addition, the Hub Group, an Illinois-based company, donated 78 cool trailers to the provinces and hospitals in the state of California, the distribution of which is mediated by Cal OES.

Since these trailers are not designed to be used as mortuaries, Cal OES is providing the right shelves to at least double the capacity of an individual trailer.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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