Pentagon aiming to get 100,000 body bags for FEMA coronavirus response, report says

The Pentagon is trying to obtain 100,000 body bags for federal emergency management officials in preparation of an expected increase in the numbers of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, a new report said Wednesday.

Bloomberg News said, citing sources, that the Pentagon already has 50,000 body bags that it will begin tapping to fulfill the request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but that Defense officials are trying to acquire double that amount of new bags to meet FEMA’s request.

“The Defense Logistics Agency doesn’t yet have a specific delivery date request from FEMA but the agency wants them as soon as they are ready, and the Pentagon is close to agreement with its current contractor on the numbers and time lines,” Bloomberg reported, citing one of its sources.

The Defense Department had no immediate comment when contacted by CNBC.

A FEMA spokesperson said, “FEMA is aware of many states’ planning efforts to account for mortuary contingencies and has increased its posture to support these requests once received from the states. Prudent planning for these future conditions is taken very seriously by FEMA, and we are working with Regional and State health and emergency managers to ramp up available assets to meet contingency needs for the most affected areas.”

White House officials said Tuesday that an estimated 100,000 to 240,000 are likely to die in coming months from COVID-19, even with mitigation and treatment efforts.

– Additional reporting by Amanda Macias 

WATCH: N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo on the latest coronavirus numbers

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/01/coronavirus-deaths-pentagon-requests-100000-body-bags.html