The Texas National Guard has sent a 36-member team to El Paso to assist morgues in the border region with the number of dead as a result of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
"The Texas Military will provide us with the critical personnel to carry out our fatality management plan and we are very grateful to them for their ongoing support," El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said late Friday when the deployment was announced.
The pandemic is blamed for more than 300 deaths in El Paso County since October, 853 total since the pandemic began.
Jail inmates are already being paid to move bodies and county leaders are offering $27 an hour for morgue workers.
County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, in a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott asking for support for a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew in the county, said mortuaries are being overwhelmed.
"As of (Friday), our Medical Examiner's Office is reporting that 234 fatalities are being held at our main morgue and at our nine mobile morgues," Samaniego wrote.
Statewide, the Texas health department on Friday reported more than 1 million virus cases, more than 20,000 dead and more than 8,100 virus patients hospitalized.
Coronavirus Cases in Texas
Locations on the map are approximate county locations and are not intended to identify where any infected people live.
Case data was pulled from a variety of sources including county health departments and the Texas Department of State Health Services.
