Pentagon looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for civilians in virus outbreak

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Pentagon looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for civilians in virus outbreak

By Mike Stone

 

FILE PHOTO: Workers wheel a deceased person outside of Brooklyn Hospital Center during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags for use by civilian authorities as the coronavirus outbreak worsens in the United States with a high death toll expected in coming weeks.

 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has requested 100,000 such bags to the U.S. Department of Defense, a Pentagon official told Reuters on Wednesday.

 

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is working with the current contractor on additional capacity, the official said.

 

The initial delivery will come from DLA stocks as the contractor ramps up production, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The DLA does not yet have a specific delivery date request from FEMA, but the agency wants the bags as soon as they are ready.

 

Bloomberg had reported earlier that the Pentagon was looking at buying more body bags and that it will draw some initially from a stockpile of 50,000 that it maintains.

 

A FEMA spokesman cited by Bloomberg said that the agency was making "prudent" plans for future needs, which included preparations for "mortuary contingencies" from U.S. states.

 

The Troop Support unit of DLA is responsible for managing the Pentagon's stockpile of the green nylon, 94-inch by 38-inch body bags, which are normally used in war zones.

 

The development comes as the United States is looking at an increasing number of deaths from the coronavirus outbreak, with Reuters' tally showing more than 4,500 deaths and over 200,000 infections in the country.

 

President Donald Trump and his top healthcare advisers urged Americans to follow strict social distancing measures ahead of a "tough two weeks" that could see at least 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus.

 

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington, Writing by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-02

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[Langsuan Man]

Nyezhov every post from you is directed at the supposed bias of all the news reports of this crisis

 

You appear just unable to handle the truth, whether it be a Reuters article about sailors and the virus on an aircraft carrier and now this one

 

Did the White House join this fear campaign when they announce the possibility of :

 

Quote

White House warns 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die in coronavirus pandemic

source: 

 

[Rimmer]

A troll post has been removed

[car720]

Way to go.  Order extra body bags before people even die.  What a confidence builder.  

[phantomfiddler]

Hopefully these body bags will not be purchased from China ????

[bartolo57]

There are videos on twitter showing rooms full of filled body bags in Brooklyn and forklift trucks loading them onto refrigerated trailers. This is not the flu by any stretch and has only just begun it's deadly march in the US. 

[Toosetinmyways]

I heard on RT yesterday about the US using forklifts to place bodies in refers. I thought it was just Russian propaganda. Today the same clip was on the BBC.

[Tropposurfer]

As is with despicable human nature folks will get rich off of others misery (making and supplying such things). Reminds me of the heady days of Halliburton and Iraq War I and War 2. Now there was democracy and the free enterprise system in all its glory ! NOT !

[Burma Bill]

One for Trump????

[rabas]

3 hours ago, Toosetinmyways said:

I heard on RT yesterday about the US using forklifts to place bodies in refers. I thought it was just Russian propaganda. Today the same clip was on the BBC.

Reuters:

New York City crematories are extending their hours, burning bodies into the night.

New York state has relaxed air-quality regulations to allow crematories to burn for longer hours.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-bodies/new-york-city-crematories-work-overtime-as-coronavirus-brings-backlog-of-bodies-idUSKBN21K27D

 

It's just a flu.

Edited April 2, 2020 by rabas

[Crazy Alex]

3 hours ago, bartolo57 said:

There are videos on twitter showing rooms full of filled body bags in Brooklyn and forklift trucks loading them onto refrigerated trailers. This is not the flu by any stretch and has only just begun it's deadly march in the US. 

You're right. It's not the flu.

[Crazy Alex]

13 minutes ago, rabas said:

Reuters:

New York City crematories are extending their hours, burning bodies into the night.

New York state has relaxed air-quality regulations to allow crematories to burn for longer hours.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-bodies/new-york-city-crematories-work-overtime-as-coronavirus-brings-backlog-of-bodies-idUSKBN21K27D

 

It's just a flu.

Wow, they sure stepped on it bad. Hard to believe a mayor of a big city would tell people to go have a drink at a bar as late as March 13. Wow.

[Susco]

Why they need so many body bags?

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/17/how-trump-shifted-his-tone-on-coronavirus-134246

 

 

[Crazy Alex]

3 hours ago, Susco said:

Why they need so many body bags?

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/17/how-trump-shifted-his-tone-on-coronavirus-134246

 

 

So... 100,000 body bags. What politicians said. On March 15, Bill De Blasio told New Yorkers to go to a bar and have drinks.

 

So let's compare the two statements. Trump said something that is factually correct. De Blasio encouraged incredibly stupid behavior weeks after he should have known better. The infection and death rates in New York speak for themselves.