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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."
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With Morgues Brimming, Texas and Arizona Turn to Refrigerator Trucks
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(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.