Vigo County orders semi-trailers to house COVID-19 bodies

The Vigo County Health Department is pleading with the community in and around Terre Haute to take coronavirus precautions seriously after county officials announced they’ve rented four refrigerated semitrailers to store bodies of those who have died from COVID-19.

With some funeral homes in the area already becoming “overrun with bodies,” health department administrator Joni Wise said there aren’t enough places to put them.

“We have to have some place for mass casualties to go and, this is one of those situations that is going to get worse before it gets better,” Wise said Thursday in a video statement.

Community spread of COVID-19 continues to increase in Vigo County, said County Commissioner Brendan Kearns. Gatherings at bars, restaurants and similar venues continue to be a main source of virus transmission.

“People are not wearing masks,” Kearns said in the video statement. “The hospitals are already pretty much at capacity … they’re busting at the seams … employees are stressed out. This is overwhelming the community.”

Although the county commission has the ability to put new restrictions in place and “shut the county down,” Kearns said, “we’re not going to do that.”

Instead, Kearns and Wise repeatedly appealed to community members to wear masks and practice social distancing to protect themselves and those around them.

The Indiana Department of Health reported 5,218 new case of COVID-19 and 26 additional deaths in Monday’s daily state report. Vigo County has reported 4,849 cases — including 44 new cases reported Monday — and 66 deaths, according to the state’s novel coronavirus daily update.

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Indiana jumped again, to a new high of 2,768 on Sunday. That’s up from an all-time high of 2,634 on Friday. COVID-19 patients occupy 34.7% of the state’s intensive care beds.

The department said the seven-day moving average for cases reached another all-time high of 6,047.