A spike in deaths has put unusual strain on the death care industry By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Published: February 8, 2021, 6:00am
Share: Christine Gale outside her office downtown Thursday, Jan 28, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette/TNS)
PITTSBURGH The system for issuing death certificates in Pennsylvania is so backed up that it took a month for Christine Gale to receive one from the state Department of Health after her father died on Thanksgiving Day.
Normally it would have taken only a few days.
But the surge in deaths that began in November, largely driven by the increase in COVID-19 cases, has caused an administrative pile up in Harrisburg, where bureaucrats process the paperwork from funeral homes and coroners.