ROBERTSDALE – A portable morgue unit for storing bodies has been installed at South Baldwin Region Medical Center to deal with an increase in deaths that has some funeral homes at capacity, Baldwin County Coroner Brian Pierce said Wednesday.
Pierce said an increase in hospital deaths led to his office and the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency requesting one of the state’s three portable morgue units to be brought to Baldwin County.
“The hospitals were having a surge of bodies,” Pierce said. “So what we did was make that request through the EMA. Public Health did bring down a mobile unit and it was stationed, I believe, at South Baldwin.”
He said that because hospital cases are not under the jurisdiction of the Coroner’s Office, he could not comment on the reason for the increase in deaths. He did say the unit was stationed at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center where a team from the U.S Department of Public Health was sent last week to deal with the increase in COVID-19 cases.
“The reason being is that South Baldwin Hospital had requested a team so they had asked for some assistance, some people to come help staff the hospital and they could staff that morgue,” Pierce said.
He said he did not know the capacity of the portable unit sent to Foley. He said a portable unit sent to Baldwin County after Hurricane Sally in 2020 had a capacity to hold 24 bodies.