AUSTIN (KXAN) — As coronavirus cases surged and lockdowns gripped the state, officials in Texas’ largest counties had a grisly problem to solve: where would they put all the dead bodies when space ran out?
Counties typically have a fixed amount of cold storage for human remains in medical examiners’ offices, hospitals and funeral homes. When deaths overwhelm capacity, it can lead to problems.
The Dallas County’s Office of the Medical Examiner said running out of storage would create a “potential public health emergency” of its own, in its proposal to buy more space for bodies in February 2021.
To head-off the problem, all levels of government sprang into action in 2020. Upon request, the Federal Emergency Management Agency began providing refrigerated trailers to counties, as did the Texas Department of State Health Services and the state’s Hospital Preparedness Program. Despite free and lower-cost options, some counties, including Travis, opted to use their own funds to lease or purchase refrigerated trailers, often called mobile morgues or mortuary trailers.
A KXAN investigation found the methods used by Texas’ five largest counties to procure refrigerated trailers — and the costs — varied widely.
For example, Travis County received a FEMA trailer at no charge that was managed by the Capital Area of Texas Regional Advisory Council. But Travis County also opted to spend over $211,632 to lease a refrigerated trailer from a private provider. It expanded capacity, but Travis County never used either resource to store a body.
Meanwhile, El Paso County paid nothing for 25 federally-funded refrigerated FEMA trailers that were deployed at various times, according to El Paso County officials and state records. El Paso was hard hit by the virus in 2021, and received the most government trailers of any county in the state.
Of the five largest counties in the state, Travis is the only one that paid for expanded capacity and did not use it, according to records KXAN obtained.
Travis County capacity
Travis County public information officer Hector Nieto said the free FEMA and state trailers had to be loaded several feet above the ground in a loading dock. Travis County, however, needed trailers that sat at ground level.
“Renting the decedent storage trailer was predicated on the respectful handling of decedents and responsiveness to their survivors,” Nieto said in a statement. “National media reporting showed decedents stored in disrespectful ways. Travis County proactively responded to prevent unnecessary pain and anguish to the decedent's survivors.”
It is not clear which national media reports Nieto was referring to. News reports from Los Angeles showed disturbing video of hospital workers appearing to lift and move bodies from a refrigerated trailer and piling them on the ground last year. The New York Times reported bodies overwhelming the medical system in New York City in spring 2020, at the onset of the pandemic.
There are companies that specialize in morgue equipment and lifts that can raise a body up several feet and assist with loading a trailer above ground level. For example, Dallas County bought a hand crank cadaver lift for roughly $5,500, according to purchasing office records.
Nieto said the county was “preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” and “we stand by these decisions as we continue helping our community navigate the first major pandemic in 100 years.”
Travis County obtained both the FEMA and leased trailers in the summer of 2020. The FEMA trailer was demobilized in April 2021 and the leased trailer later last fall. Nieto said Travis County is seeking a federal reimbursement for the $211,632 spent on the rented trailer that was meant to serve as a safety net for any county funeral homes or hospitals that got overwhelmed.
Separately, Nieto said the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office spent $47,850 to rent and purchase another container to expand its capacity. Nieto said this was a “cost-effective means” of gaining more storage for the future and avoiding costly renovations.
The choice to expand capacity at the medical examiner’s office came less than four years after county officials opened a new, state-of-the-art $28 million medical examiner facility in northeast Austin. The new location is three times larger than the previous building, according to the designer.
FEMA and DSHS refrigerated trailers distributed across the state
FEMA disbursed a total of 62 refrigerated trailers, each with a capacity of 40-56 bodies, to counties across the state at no cost. DSHS deployed eight smaller trailers — 12-person capacity — also at no cost to counties. In addition, there were nine trailers provided to counties at no cost through the state’s Hospital Preparedness Program. All the state and federal trailers came with generators for cooling and body racks, according to a DSHS spokesperson records KXAN obtained through the Texas Public Information Act.
Harris County — the most populous in the state and home to Houston — did not lease or purchase any refrigerated trailers for use as mobile morgues, according to DeWight Dopslauf, a county purchasing agent.
Tarrant County paid $200,564 to rent two 40-foot refrigerated trailers for four months and equip them. The county stored 93 bodies in the trailers from late December through March 2021.
Tarrant County’s costs included about $44,000 to rent the trailers, nearly $85,000 for exterior improvements like fencing and scaffolding, and more than $70,000 for interior equipment for the trailers, according to county procurement records and a spokesperson.
Dallas County approved spending over $243,000 to address storage capacity in the medical examiner’s office and funeral homes. With that money, the county got permanent improvements, including additional fixed storage for the medical examiner’s office and emergency response equipment. Dallas County also spent $11,450 to buy a refrigerated trailer it had been loaned at no cost at the beginning of the pandemic. Dallas County officials said they used the additional storage capacity continuously throughout most of the pandemic, and they would submit the cost for reimbursement from FEMA, according to Commissioner’s Court records.
Medical examiners' offices typically handle death certification, conduct autopsies and store bodies of people who die suddenly or unexpectedly. When a person dies in a hospital — which is the case for most COVID patients — physicians typically handle death certification and funeral homes store the bodies. Dallas County officials said they would be faced with an emergency if bodies overwhelmed all types of storage.
“A surge in deaths or delays in transport and final disposition (burial) of decedents by the funeral homes can quickly overwhelm the system resulting in capacity issues in multiple locations,” according to Dallas County’s proposal to expand storage.
Bexar County, home to San Antonio, did not lease or spend any money for refrigerated trailers, according to Monica Ramos, Bexar County public information officer. The county did receive a FEMA and a DSHS trailer that were not used. She said the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office did not need a refrigerated trailer.
El Paso County said FEMA deployed a total of 25 refrigerated trailers, but those trailers were used at different times, and the county actually used about 13 during “peak fatality operations,” according to Jorge Rodriguez, assistant fire chief of emergency management and special operations.
0 Comments