1 Ohio Hospital That Needs Extra Morgue Space Will Use A Refrigerated Truck

Making a grim move, a northern Ohio hospital ordered a refrigerated truck to serve as an overflow morgue space as COVID-19 hospitalizations continue.

The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center’s Dr. Andy Thomas joined Gov. Mike DeWine during a press conference on Monday (November 30).

Neither of them disclosed the name or location of the hospital that ordered the truck, according to 19 News.

“There are a lot of concerns about ICU capacity — more hospitals are voicing concerns about their ability to manage so many ICU patients,” DeWine tweeted in a thread, quoting Thomas. “One of every 3 people on a ventilator has COVID. They’ll crowd out other people who need that care if the numbers continue to rise…For those who traveled over Thanksgiving and are now back, please be as safe as possible. That might include taking (additional) time off to quarantine and minimize your level of contact with others to break any possible chain of transmission.”

The Ohio Department of Health tracked more than 421,000 total cases and nearly 27,000 hospitalizations statewide as of Monday, noting that the data is incomplete because of a “surge” in testing. The state has surpassed 6,400 total COVID-19 deaths, data show.

“I'm asking every Ohioan to continue to pull back and limit your activities,” DeWine said. “There is a cause and effect to what we do — we can slow this down. The scariest thing is that there is no indication that we have plateaued. We haven't seen anything like this for 100 years.”

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