Oregon counties request trucks for bodies as deaths climb

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

BEND, Ore. (AP) — The death toll from COVID-19 in Oregon is climbing so rapidly in some counties that the state has organized delivery of one refrigerated truck to hold the bodies and is sending a second one. The state emergency management department says refrigerated trucks to hold bodies have been requested by Tillamook and Josephine counties. A refrigerated truck arrived in Tillamook County on Friday, loaned by Klamath County. In a statement, the Tillamook County commissioners said that from Aug. 18 to Aug. 23, there were six new COVID-19 deaths in the county, surpassing the five total deaths that occurred during the first 18 months of the pandemic.