Eagle Pass and Maverick County Emergency Operations Center Requests Refrigerated Morgue Trailer for Growing Fatalities
By: Miguel Munoz, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
City of Eagle Pass, Texas Mayor Luis E. Sifuentes stated that the joint Eagle Pass and Maverick County Emergency Operations Center has requested the Texas Division of Emergency Management for the use of a refrigerated morgue trailer due to the growing number of fatalities in the county as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sifuentes noted that the three local funeral homes and the local hospital morgues are full with deceased corpses awaiting funerals and need additional space to store the corpses pending funeral arrangements.
Sifuentes noted that the refrigerated morgue trailer requested from the State of Texas is expected to arrive in Maverick County within two weeks and that a location to set it up in is being looked into at the moment.
Maverick County just experienced the deadliest month in July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with 36 fatalities and the month of August is continuing with a fast pace of 11 additional deaths as of August 7, 2020, totaling 50 overall since the novel coronavirus pandemic began in March.
In addition to the deaths attributed to COVID-19, Maverick County also has reported other deaths associated with natural causes or other illnesses, creating a shortage of space where to store the corpses while pending funerals.
Local funeral homes report being full and taking up to 7 to 10 days to hold the funerals of current deceased corpses.
