Intent on avoiding the makeshift morgues that cropped up in the Northeast during the pandemic’s first wave, Salove this week brought in a refrigerated trailer to hold the growing number of dead. By Friday, there were seven corpses inside, up from two the day before. Six more were on their way from another facility.

“I’d barely gotten it installed, and we had to start using it,” Salove said. “Right now, we are seeing that spike.”…

The backlog is so bad in some places that people have had to wait weeks to cremate their loved ones.

“We’re so far behind on cremations,” said Lance Cox, owner of Bell Tower Funeral Home in Post Falls, Idaho. “That’s really how it impacts the families the most. You can bring in backup refrigeration options in an emergency, but you can’t bring in a backup crematory.”