Oregon counties request trucks for bodies as deaths climb

The death toll from COVID-19 in Oregon is climbing so rapidly in some counties that the state has organized delivery of one refrigerated truck to hold the bodies and is sending a second one

BEND, Ore. -- The death toll from COVID-19 in Oregon is climbing so rapidly in some counties that the state has organized delivery of one refrigerated truck to hold the bodies and is sending a second one, the state emergency management department said Saturday. So far, Tillamook County, on Oregon's northwest coast, and Josephine County, in the southwest, requested the trucks, said Bobbi Doan, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Office of Emergency Management. Tillamook County Emergency Director Gordon McCraw wrote in his request to the state that the county's sole funeral home “is now consistently at or exceeding their capacity” of nine bodies. "Due to COVID cases of staff, they are unable to transport for storage to adjacent counties," he wrote, adding that suicides are also up in the county.