With high COVID-19 related death rates, Madison County Coroner recommends planning ahead

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Several counties posted record coronavirus numbers Tuesday and with that comes increased death counts.

In Madison County, Tuesday the health department reported its highest single day count, 144 new cases.

Madison County Coroner Jimmy Cornelison says it’s important for families to realize pandemic or not, you need to have a plan.

“We’re still climbing. And if you remember before when we kind of started back down. There was a long period of time in there before we started back and we’re nowhere close to doing that,” he said.

Madison county is one of about 100 Kentucky counties right now in the red zone. Where more than 25 people out of every 100,000 have the virus. Madison county’s population isn’t even 100,000.

Cornelison says his morgue has space right now, but if several people die all in just a couple days that could change.

He says there is a way though you can help avoid the grim imagery of overflowing morgues, beyond protecting yourself from the virus.

It’s grim, but he says you and your family need to plan ahead even if you’re young and healthy.

“I preach that, you can go to the funeral home and start making payments on it,” he said.

He said it helps prevent overflow of the morgue so if your loved one dies they can go directly to a funeral home instead of stored in the morgue while decisions are made.

Which during a pandemic, overflow isn’t too far from reality. It’s happening in El Paso, Texas.

“I just think the biggest thing is, we need to be smart. We need to do the right thing,” he said.

Right thing as in take the virus seriously and do what we can to slow the spread, social distancing, wearing a mask and washing your hands.