LA suspends air-quality limits on crematoriums to cope with COVID-19 bodies

Los Angeles is suspending air-quality limits for a very worrying reason as the city grapples with a frightening spike in COVID-19.

A casket is loaded into a hearse at the Boyd Funeral Home as burials at cemeteries are delayed to the surge of COVID-19 deaths on January 14 in Los Angeles, California. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

Los Angeles has suspended its air-quality limits on local crematoriums — because it says there are just too many COVID-19 bodies to deal with.

The LA Coroner’s Office “has confirmed that there exists an urgent need for additional human crematory services to deal with the increased demand for such services resulting from deaths due to COVID-19,’’ wrote Wayne Nastri, head of the regional air-quality office, in an executive order on Sunday.

“The Coroner has determined that the current rate of deaths in Los Angeles County is more than double that of pre-pandemic years,’’ Mr Nastri said — on the same day the city racked up another 108 coronavirus-linked fatalities, for a total of 13,484 to date, the New York Post reports.

Candy Boyd, owner of the Boyd Funeral home in Los Angeles, which is so overflowing with COVID-19 victims it has begun turning away customers for the first time. Picture: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP

And the body count will only get worse, officials said.

The coroner’s office “anticipates that another surge is approaching as a result of the New Year’s holiday, since deaths tend to occur 4-6 weeks after gatherings,’’ Mr Nastri wrote.

RELATED: Open star’s defiant hotel room protest

RELATED: COVID ‘Karen’ goes viral in Jamberoo queue

“As of January 15 over 2700 bodies are currently being stored at hospitals and the Coroner’s office; and the 28 crematories in Los Angeles County have the resources and capability to perform more cremations they cannot due to regulatory limits,’’ he said.

“Therefore, I hereby suspend permit conditions limiting the number of cremations or amount of human remains cremated.’’

On Saturday, LA County became the first in the US to hit 1 million diagnosed coronavirus cases. Funeral homes are being forced to turn people away for the first time ever, with burials at cemeteries also delayed to the surge of COVID-19 deaths.

As of January 18, California has 2,973,174 confirmed COVID-19 cases, resulting in 33,593 deaths.

The article originally appeared on the New York Post and is published here with permission.