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With morgues brimming, Texas and Arizona turn to refrigerator trucks:
Officials in Texas and Arizona have requested refrigerated trucks to hold the dead as hospitals and morgues become overwhelmed by victims of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
"In the hospital, there are only so many places to put bodies," Ken Davis, chief medical officer of Christus Santa Rosa Health System in the San Antonio area, said in a briefing this week. "We're out of space, and our funeral homes are out of space, and we need those beds. So, when someone dies, we need to quickly turn that bed over.
"It's a hard thing to talk about," Davis added. "People's loved ones are dying."
Related Story:
Crematorium Data Prove China Was Lying About COVID-19
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With Morgues Brimming, Texas and Arizona Turn to Refrigerator Trucks
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QOTD:
Flash! Flash! I love you! ...but we only have fourteen hours to
save the earth!
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:08AM (22 children)
Why not just institute mass-cremations? If it is such a potential health hazard. Since they are dead, by C19, is there a reason to keep the corpses around?
(Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:31AM (2 children)
I recall that early on, there were stories of increased business at crematoria in China. I wonder if that accounts for any of the increased methane in the atmosphere?
Alright, I'm not entirely serious, but I'm only half trolling. What gases ARE emitted from a crematoria?
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:00AM
Done correctly, water (in heaps) then CO2, some nitrogen and its oxides in minor quantities, small amounts of sulphur dioxide and other things not worth mentioning by quantity.
No, methane is too high in energy to be emitted during the combustion - even with a reduction flame (not enough oxygen for a complete oxidation) you'll get carbon monoxide and other compounds containing carbon and oxygen rather than methane.
To get methane by heating dead bodies, you will need to desiccate them first and then subject them to dry pyrolysis with inert gases as carriers (so that you cool down the products quickly). One of the methods to obtain carbon black is hydrocarbon pyrolysis [wikipedia.org] - that is to show methane will decompose at the temperatures required to drive out gases from the body in the absence of oxygen.
---
You will get methane though by anaerobic fermentation - those microbes will use the oxygen in the body's substances for their own purpose and let part of the carbon go as methane. See biogas digesters [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:14AM
Sorry, we do not have a half troll mod, even for half-assed trolling. Have a whole one!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:22AM
Rent seeking? Why sell them an urn when you can rent them a trailer?
(Score: 0, Troll) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:29AM (4 children)
Why not just institute mass-cremations?
gotta keep 'em on ice for organ "donations"
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:12AM (3 children)
Bad quality trolling and/or lame joke.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:43AM
Lame response!
(Score: 2, Informative) by fustakrakich on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:01AM
Well, I'm sure we can find a more suitable alternative [montypython.net] for you
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:28AM
Don't they first explant organ and then stop the survival therapy? OT but curious.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @03:10AM (3 children)
Where's that Nazi efficiency in oven management when you need it?
(yes, yes, bus to hell, I already have my ticket, I'll go get on it now, straight to hell, yes, yes)
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:32AM
This ain't the 1950 when you could paperclip them, where do you think you find experts in the fields these days? They're all dead already.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @06:31PM (1 child)
That never happened. Look it up.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday July 19 2020, @01:23AM
Flat earth and holocaust denial?
I would love hear your views on evolution.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @07:08AM (4 children)
Because while the system is strained, it's not yet strained to the point where we have to ignore traditions for such reasons. A corpse is probably not much of a health hazard. I assume they're in body bags, and will ultimately find their way to mortuary services who are obviously professionals at handling the deceased.
The USA is mostly a Christian nation, and in times when such nations have faced overwhelming fatalities there has been a tendency towards mass graves rather than cremations. Like I said though, the system isn't strained to the point where we're ready to tell relatives something like "He's in plot 34 with 100 others".
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:38AM (3 children)
A corpse is decomposing. There is a reason we bury our dead as far as possible from human settlements, and there's also a reason why we find the smell of decomposing matter unpleasant. It's supposed to tell us "get lost, not good for you". With good reason, because it ain't. A decomposing body is already pretty unsanitary, and the fact that these people didn't just die of old age where you could say that at least what killed them isn't going to kill you but from a disease that can very well do exactly that certainly does not improve that condition.
The sensible thing is to get rid of them as quickly as possible. In other words, should it hit me, make sure my body gets deposed of quickly and efficiently, preferably in a way that prevents the spread of any contaminants. My relatives can weep in front of an empty casket as well as in front of a full one.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:35AM (2 children)
"There is a reason we bury our dead as far as possible from human settlements,"
Possibly true at some point in history. In my city we have at least eight (there may be more, these are the ones I am certain of without doing an in-depth review for a comment). Six are within city limits with neighborhoods surrounding them on all sides, one is in an outlying community bordering the business and residential districts and one lies alone for now but is being encroached upon by city expansion. Refrigerated storage of the dead is common in hospitals, morgues, and funeral homes, also all located within cities.
All are active and take new burials, although the oldest and largest one only has around 10% capacity left IIRC...
When I was an over the road (trucker) driver, I saw many, many cemeteries and crematoriums surrounded by neighborhoods and businesses all over the country. (USA) The dead are autopsied, processed, revered, and buried or burned locally in most cities, at least in the US.
Is this different elsewhere? Genuine curiosity if you're referring to a different country. I've been border to border and coast to coast here, but never internationally.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:29AM (1 child)
The thing about graveyards is that they probably didn't start out being "in the city", the city just eventually grew around them. They tend to start at the edge of towns and then the town eventually envelope the area around it.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday July 18 2020, @01:42PM
Most graveyards in this neck of the woods are around churches.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday July 18 2020, @11:01AM (3 children)
The image of mass cremations wouldn't look good on a campaign poster.
(Score: 2) by SpockLogic on Saturday July 18 2020, @02:41PM (2 children)
VOTE TRUMP
VOTE DEATH
Was that the sort of text that would go with the cremations image?
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @05:54PM (1 child)
Nope, tagline "50% of them were Democrats" gets Trump the win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @08:26PM
Are you sure about that? My sense is that people take it mighty personally if Mom or Grandma die from covid because of federal government dithering and incompetence, even if she was an old-guard Democrat.