Lack of storage space for those who have died coronavirus forced the agency regulating air quality throughout the South to issue an emergency order Sunday night raising the limit on the number of cremations allowed. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued the emergency order temporarily suspending permit requirements for crematoria.
CBS Los Angeles reports that the order was issued at the request of both the Los Angeles County Forensic Office and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The air quality management district limits the number of cremations that can be carried out each month due to air quality regulations. However, the pandemic has more than doubled the mortality rate in the region, which has put pressure on hospitals. funeral home and crematoria, the agency reported.
As of Jan. 15, more than 2,700 bodies are being stored in both hospitals and the coroner’s office, according to the order. “Mobile funeral homes” have already been set up outside of Los Angeles County hospitals, where one person dies of coronavirus every eight minutes, the county said last week in Twitter.
AP
“The current death rate is more than double that of the pre-pandemic years, making hospitals, funeral homes and crematoria out of capacity without the ability to process delayed cases,” AQMD said in a press release Sunday. “The Los Angeles County Forensic Physician and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have requested that the AQMD on the South Coast suspend the cremation limits in order to protect public health and respond to the current emergency “.
The order will be valid for at least 10 days.
As of Sunday, Los Angeles County has reported 1,014,662 cases of coronavirus and 13,848 deaths from the disease. According to the latest state figures Monday, 7,328 people are hospitalized with coronavirus in Los Angeles County. 23% of them are in intensive care beds.