Magda Maldonado had the 52ft trailer delivered to the Continental Funeral Homes in East Los Angeles Saturday
It was parked next to a 20ft trailer that Maldonado had rented in the summer, but no longer provided enough space for the number of bodies coming in each day
Wood, especially pine, is becoming scarce and making it difficult for enough coffins to be built
California has become the epicenter of the pandemic over the past few weeks with more than 24,000 virus-related deaths
Los Angeles has seen nearly 100,000 new cases in the last week alone
Funeral homes in Los Angeles County are expecting to see the surge in coronavirus cases at least until February
California broke its single-day record for COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday with 432
The state is now seeing one coronavirus death every three minutes
More than half of Tuesday s deaths statewide - 242 - were in Los Angeles County
The county has seen hospitalizations grow nearly 10-fold in the last two months to 7,181 as of Wednesday
State officials extended strict stay-at-home orders indefinitely in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley on Tuesday
Both regions are now at zero percent available ICU capacity
The shortage of beds has led some hospitals to begin rationing care
California reported it s first case of a new mutant coronavirus strain Wednesday
Business booms for France’s biggest coffin-maker as coronavirus rips through the country
A coffin manufacturer in east Los Angeles is facing a rare wood shortage for caskets amid rising deaths from COVID-19, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday, offering a grim reality in light of the rising COVID-19 deaths in the county.
Auriel “Guero” Suarez, owner of the Universal Caskets Manufacturing Corporation, told The Daily Beast that wood is “getting scarce, especially pine, which is the most inexpensive.”
“In 52 years in the business, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Suarez told The Daily Beast.
Los Angeles County reported 227 new deaths – a record number of new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday – partly due to backlog, according to a press release from the county’s Department of Public Health.