NUECES COUNTY, Texas — The request for a FEMA morgue trailer has been granted. With over 40 people dying from COVID this week, and thousands more infected with the virus, officials said they may need more than just one.
County officials said they saw this coming and that’s why a few days ago they made their second request over the past few weeks for a 50 bed FEMA refrigerated morgue trailer. That trailer will be here this weekend.
"These individuals still need to be treated with respect and they need to be taken care of and so a morgue is the right thing to do," Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez said.
Noe Lopez II is the Saxet Funeral Home Director. We told him about the 50 bed morgue trailer that will be here this weekend and it was welcome news.
"It most definitely is going to be very helpful to have an option to not have to get the bodies right away because at this point our morgue is full," Lopez II said.
Lopez II also mentioned that as soon as they clear out their morgue, it gets filled up that same day. He said he simply does not have the manpower or the space to accommodate all of the bodies coming from the hospitals.
"We normally average out 265 a year, 265 cases," he said. "Right now, we’re at 240 cases for the year. This month alone we’ve already done 38 cases most of them COVID."
Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez doesn’t see our situation getting any better anytime soon. We asked her if more morgue trailers were needed.
"We are always looking for additional space, especially when you see the number of deaths we’ve had in the last week almost at the same number that the morgue has for capacity and so we will be looking to see if there’s another one somewhere that isn’t being utilized and if there’s one we can bring in," Rodriguez said.
The 50 bed morgue trailer will be parked next to the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office.
Health officials said that there were two small refrigerated trailers outside of the building that are now going to be repaired and will be moved to the Richard M Borchard Fairgrounds and stored there until needed again.