Some Arizona and Texas counties have ordered extra refrigerator trucks and body bags following a surge in COVID-19 deaths in those states, according to local news reports.
Both states continued to hit new infection records this week. Texas is facing an average of 93 deaths per day, up from 20 per day a month ago, while Arizona reported 3,910 new cases and 91 more known deaths as ventilators in use hit a new record.
Texas Division of Emergency spokesman Seth Christensen told CNBC that the mortuary trucks aren’t yet needed, but that the state wanted “to be on top of this and prepared in case we have the need.”
Gene Allen, president of the Texas Funeral Directors Association, also told the news outlet that some funeral directors have reported being at capacity.
“The directors I’ve talked to in the last week are at capacity or over capacity, thus the reason they had to bring in the trailers,” he said.
In Arizona, face masks are still not mandated, though some officials are urging residents to wear them in order to stem the spread of coronavirus. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week issued a statewide order mandating the use of face masks.
“I know that many of you all are frustrated — so am I. I know that many of you do not like the mask requirement — I don’t either,” Abbott said in a video message at the virtual state Republican convention. “The last thing that any of us want is to lock Texas back down again. We must do all that we can to prevent that.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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