R&I – FS
PORTLAND, Ore. — Hospitals around Oregon are securing extra space for bodies as a surge of COVID-19 deaths overwhelm hospital morgues and funeral homes struggle to keep up with demand.
Providence Portland and Providence St. Vincent hospitals are bringing in fatality management trucks, or temporary morgues. Providence said those are the only two hospitals where it has needed to install the temporary morgues.
Salem Health has also signed a contract for a temporary morgue in case it’s needed if deaths continue to rise. Tillamook and Josephine Counties have separately requested refrigerated morgue trucks. Klamath County loaned its truck to Tillamook County, which only has one funeral home.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Salem Health CEO Cheryl Nester Wolf in testimony to the Salem Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. “We didn’t see this at beginning of the pandemic. The delta variant is a horse of a different color than where we started.”
Modeling from Oregon Health & Science University expects Oregon to hit the peak of the surge next week. On Friday, Sept. 3, there were 1,172 people hospitalized with COVID-19, an all-time high.
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