BEND, Ore.: The death toll from COVID-19 in Oregon is climbing so rapidly that two counties have requested refrigerated trucks to hold the bodies, the state emergency management department said Saturday.
So far, Tillamook County, on Oregon’s northwest coast, and Josephine County, in the southwest, have 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.
The refrigerated truck arrived in the county on Friday, loaned by Klamath County, Doan said in a telephone interview.
The Tillamook County Board of Commissioners said Friday the spread of COVID-19 “has reached a critical phase.
In a statement…