December 18th – U.S. media reported that as the number of confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 continues to surge, California, the United States, has launched a “Plan to Respond to Mass Deaths”, which aims to alleviate the burden on local institutions caused by the increase in deaths.
According to Business Insider on the 17th, last week, U.S. Governor Gavin Newsom announced that more than 160 people die from the epidemic on average every day and ordered 5,000 new body bags to be distributed to counties with a surge in deaths.
The California Office of Emergency Services (OES) said that if the number of deaths exceeded the capacity of local coroners or medical first responders to deal with it, the “Massive Death Response Plan”, which aims to coordinate assistance between several government agencies.
Mark Pazin, the state’s head of OES, said that the implementation of the “plan to deal with mass deaths” is to ensure that local institutions are not overwhelmed by the surge in death tolls.
Pazin said, “I know it sounds sick, but it must be said that the body bags we have prepared, the appropriate refrigeration equipment, and the capacity have not exceeded the local morgue or funeral home.”
At present, the epidemic situation in California is extremely serious. California reported 52,281 new confirmed cases and 379 deaths on Thursday (17th).
In addition, the Los Angeles Times reported that California has broken the record for 18 consecutive days of hospitalizations/number of people due to the epidemic.
On Tuesday (15th), 14,939 people were hospitalized due to the epidemic. In Southern California, with a population of nearly 24 million, the ICU beds are full, which means that patients will most likely be placed elsewhere in the hospital. Overseas Network Hou Xingchuan)
