ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — COVID-19 deaths remained in triple digits in Florida Thursday and that volume is expected to continue in the days and weeks ahead.
So how will local medical examiners handle all of those deaths?
- District 6 Medical Examiner's Office handles Pinellas, Pasco counties
- Preparation for hurricanes, other mass fatality events provides an advantage
- More coronavirus stories
The white refrigerated trailers outside of morgues across the country have become a sobering reminder of just how deadly the coronavirus is.
But in counties like Pinellas and Pasco, the refrigerated trailer is no stranger. They’ve used them before ahead of other natural disasters.
“We have a little bit of an advantage because we do a lot of this preparation for other types of mass fatality incidents such as hurricanes and such here in Florida,” said District Six Medical Examiner's Office investigations director Bill Pellan.
He said in less than a month their office has seen their share of positive COVID-19 cases, and he hopes it doesn't get to a point where they have to fill the refrigerated trailer.
The District Six Medical Examiner’s Office cooler capacity is 75. Right now they’re ranging from 25 to 30 bodies.
“To date our office — and we cover Pasco and Pinellas counties — we’ve had 13 deaths that we have determined to be COVID-19 related,” Pellan said.
He said they’ve tested even more bodies coming into the medical examiner’s office, and they have to take extra precautions with those remains.
“Of course, when a decedent, they aren’t coughing or sneezing, so you don’t have that mechanism of expelling the viral spores," Pellan said. "But if you’re moving the decedent, you could have some air expel from the nose or mouth at that time, so there’s a slight risk there."
In the midst of all of that, Pellan's office is still dealing with their regular workload in the two counties they serve. But they’re prepared, trained and hopeful that all the work you’re doing at home with social distancing will help reduce the chances of an increased workload in the morgue.
“In Pinellas County we’re well prepared from a lot of preparation working with emergency management,” Pellan said. “And I think we’re in good shape in Pinellas County for increase in deaths and hopefully, we have our fingers crossed that we’re not seeing those huge numbers that they’re seeing in other parts of the country.”