a refrigerated truck in front of the CHU morgue to manage the influx of deaths related to Covid-19

The image is amazing, a refrigerated truck is installed near the mortuary of the CHU de Grenoble a precautionary measure from 5 November to cope with deaths related to Covid-19 in hospital during the second epidemic wave. At the University Hospital of Grenoble, 225 patients died between 1 September and 23 November.

It is neither more nor less than a large refrigerated truck where food is usually transported. Parked in the car park of Grenoble University Hospital, right next to the mortuary, it is connected to a cooling system. The goal is to preserve not frozen products but the dead.

This truck was installed, in case of saturation of the hospital’s mortuary services due to the coronavirus epidemic. So far, this has not happened and, a priori, “the peak of the second wave has already been surpassed by 11 November“, according to the University Hospital of Grenoble. The mortuary, which has 39 seats, is currently 65% ​​occupied. The truck acts as a safety valve because it can accommodate 12 additional deceased.

A few weeks ago there was a rumor about a possible deposit of corpses at the Polesud ice rink in Grenoble. When asked about this by France Bleu Isère, the prefecture of Isère replied that the hypothesis was being studied but for the moment nothing official on this question.