Tarrant County Anticipates More COVID-19 Outbreaks, Brings Body Refrigerators

As deaths surge across Tarrant County, the county coroner announced Thursday that he will use two temporary refrigerators where up to 50 bodies can be stored.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner said in a statement that it will increase these refrigerated spaces in anticipation of an “increase in the death toll” in the next six to eight weeks, as a result of infections in “the holiday season.” .

So far, 927 people have died in Tarrant County from COVID-19, including 14 residents in their report Thursday.

In addition to the two fridges, the county already has three fridges that combined can store up to 100 bodies, according to Carol Walker, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office.

Nizam Peerwani, the county medical examiner, told KXAS-TV (NBC5) that he expects the temporary refrigerator will be used in a matter of days.

“I have been doing this for 45 years. I’ve never seen anything like it, ”Peerwani said.

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley told KXAS that an increase in homicides, suicides and drug overdoses influenced the county’s decision to bring in more fridges and that the county has been planning this for months.

“Our morgue, our fellow medical examiners, have been bringing it up for some time and we knew we’d get to this point, and we’re already there,” Whitley told the station.

Tarrant County is not the first place in Texas to turn to extra fridges during the pandemic. El Paso has been using temporary mobile morgues for several weeks. As of Wednesday, more than 1,282 residents of that city had died from COVID-19, according to state data.