Texas adding five mortuary trailers as COVID-19 cases rise

The federal government is working to fulfill a request from Texas for five mobile mortuary trailers as state health officials expect the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths to rise amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. 

Texas State Department of Health spokesperson Douglas Loveday said in a statement shared with The Hill that the agency had submitted the request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on Aug. 4 “as a precaution,” adding that they “will be staged centrally in San Antonio in case any local jurisdictions around the state need this kind of support.” 

The spokesperson said FEMA has previously provided mortuary trailers amid earlier increases in COVID-19 deaths. 

Loveday added while no local governments “have requested it at this point,” he added that a component of Texas’s response to the pandemic is “being prepared for what could happen.” 

“Knowing that it takes a few weeks for these to arrive, we wanted to go ahead and put the request in,” he added. 

FEMA Public Affairs Director Jaclyn Rothenberg told The Hill that three of the trailers are expected to arrive on Friday, and the remaining two will get there Saturday. 

“With support from FEMA, HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] responds and fills requests from states for mobile mortuary trailers,” she added. “FEMA and HHS continue to work closely with the state of Texas to provide needed resources.”

The news comes as Texas has been reporting some of the highest transmission rates in the country, with new daily infections reaching nearly 22,000 over the weekend, according to the state health department. 

The infections are largely occurring among unvaccinated populations. As of Monday, about 55 percent of the state population had received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 45 percent fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The outbreaks have put substantial strain on local hospitals, with a top Texas county health official telling state lawmakers last week that he was “frightened by what is coming.” 

Despite repeated demands from local and state health officials for mask and vaccine mandates, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has issued bans on the requirements, and is engaged in legal battles with some local jurisdictions who wish to impose mask mandates in schools. 

The Texas Supreme Court on Sunday sided with Abbott and upheld his order prohibiting mask mandates, though a state judge the following day issued a ruling allowing Bexar County’s mask mandate to stay in place. 

Abbott has defended his ban by arguing that it is a personal choice for parents to decide whether to have their children wear masks at schools.