SAN ANTONIO — Refrigerated trucks are being used to hold bodies as more people die from the coronavirus in Bexar County.
Six more deaths were reported Tuesday, which raises the death toll to 201; 64 of those deaths were reported just in the last week. The rising death toll is putting a strain on local funeral homes and hospitals.
Ricardo Sanchez owns Castle Ridge Mortuary. The troubling trend of local virus-related deaths is greatly impacting at his four locations.
"We are just getting busy," he said. "Back in March, we would get a COVID death once in a while. Now, you are talking on a daily basis."
Due to the rise, Sanchez is running out of room to store the bodies.
"We have refrigeration at all our facilities," he said. "And we are at capacity."
He's not alone. Hospitals are in the same boat; they don't have much space to place the patients who die.
Bryan Alsip is the chief medical officer with University Health System. At Tuesday's city and county coronavirus update, he talked about the capacity limitations at hospitals.
"Most hospitals don't have a very large morgue," he said. "It is not designed for long-term storage of bodies."
Ken Davis, Christus Santa Rosa Health System, said they need more room too.
"We need those beds," he said. "When someone dies, we need to quickly turn that bed over. We've got two slots at one of our bigger hospitals for people who pass. We need more than two. We had 14 die in the hospital this weekend. Plus, other non-COVID patients are dying."
According to city officials Tuesday night, refrigerated trucks are being currently used by hospitals. At the time, the city couldn't give specifics on the number of trucks being utilized, nor the locations they're being used.
The city reports a number of the trucks are in the community and are part of a plan for hospitals and other places to use.
As for Sanchez, he said he is making changes to continue provide the best quality for families and keep up with demand.
"I don't want to alarm people, because they are not all COVID cases," he said. "The COVID cases are adding to the number of families that we are seeing."
Sanchez said his crematory's operators are working longer days.
"We are building a new refrigeration unit tomorrow,"he said. "Just because we are at capacity."