California is ordering thousands of body bags and activating the state's mass casualty program to deal with the surging coronavirus.
Governor Newsom said yesterday vaccines are providing a light at the end of the tunnel, but "we're still in the tunnel." In addition to 5,000 body bags, the state is also ordering dozens of refrigerator units for hospitals to store bodies. Most of it is going to hard-hit Los Angeles, San Diego and Inyo counties. More than 21,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 so far, including more than a thousand in the last week alone. Newsom says the state is in the middle of the "most acute peak" of the virus.