# 2151
The BlogEx Pandemic exercise continues today, hosted by the Southeastern District Health Department of Idaho.
Today's focus is on the logistics of dealing with a high mortality rate event.
Follow the link to read the entire scenario, and the comments. And plan to return each day to see how this Internet Tabletop exercise progresses.
July 17: Coroners, Morticians, and Cemeteries are overwhelmed.
July 16, 2008
THIS IS AN EXERCISE. IT IS NOT REAL.
This entry shows what high death rates from pandemic flu could cause. We’re posting it today because it is part of the scenario that we’ll be using when we talk to the coroners, funeral directors, and cemetery managers tonight.
The funerary industry would not be overwhelmed until approximately the second week of the pandemic flu coming to Southeast Idaho, so this post is a bit out of chronological order but still an imporant planning point.
The high death rates caused by pandemic influenza in Southeast Idaho have overwhelmed county coroners, morticians, and cemetery managers. Many middle-age people haven’t yet purchased cemetery lots but are dying from the flu. The nationwide nature of the pandemic has created a shortage of mortuary supplies everywhere.
The backlog of bodies to be prepared for burial is beyond normal morgue space, and non-traditional methods of body storage are being used. Funeral directors are facing a dilemma: hold funeral services that have large groups of people or follow health district recommendations of cancelling group gatherings? Meanwhile, cemeteries are having trouble digging graves fast enough because of a lack of staff and broken equipment that hasn’t been repaired.
