Two refrigerated trucks will be used by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office to store bodies amid the COVID-19 surge in North Texas, according to officials at the medical examiner’s office.
Authorities anticipate the surge will increase over the next six to eight weeks during and through the holidays.
The trucks, which were acquired on Dec. 3, are parked near the medical examiner’s office, 200 Feliks Gwozdz Place.
Each truck will be able to store 50 bodies, according to officials at the medical examiner’s office.
“Many of the local area hospitals and larger funeral homes have reached their storage capacity or will reach the total storage capacity soon,” said Chief Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani in a Thursday news release.
The normal capacity at the medical examiner’s office is 100 bodies, and authorities said there were more than 85 there on Wednesday, according to KXAS-TV.
The medical examiner facility in Fort Worth has three walk-in coolers that can store 100 bodies, Peerwani said.
County officials expect they’ll need to start using the trucks within a few days.
As of Thursday, Tarrant County has reported a total of 115,476 COVID-19 cases, including 927 deaths and an estimated 82,938 recoveries.
There are currently a record 898 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the county.
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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic started its devastating roll across the country, the health care work environment was experiencing challenges – especially for nurses in Fort Worth.
If you are a Nurse in Fort Worth who is currently facing any disciplinary issues before the Texas Board of Nursing, please contact Fort Worth nurse attorney Yong J. An, call or text at 832 428 5679 or anlawfirm@gmail.com. Mr. An has represented over 100 nurses before the Texas Board of Nursing since 2006.