Lane County has asked the state for a refrigerated mobile morgue. The need comes with an increase in deaths associated with COVID-19 and other causes.
A spokesperson for Public Health says they've seen a 45% increase in deaths in the past decade. There's capacity to store up to 175 bodies in Lane County and they came close to overwhelming the system earlier this month.
The county is working to improve its system for fatality management.
They hope to get reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the cost of a trailer to store up to 60 bodies if the state approves. Earlier this month, hospitals in several other Oregon counties had to bring in morgue trucks to store additional bodies because of the Delta surge.