Seals, like many state coroners, is trying to deal with an increase of COVID-19-related deaths. However, Seals doesn’t always have a place to keep the dead, as his office does not own a morgue. Seals could find himself in a situation where he is collecting bodies and doesn’t have a place to store them. If there was a Bolivar County homicide or suspicious death, that day could be much sooner. The County Coroner is required to send any deceased suspect of wrongful deaths to the State Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy. This can take several weeks due to how understaffed and resourced the State Medical Examiner’s office is. Seals could still find somewhere to keep a person’s remains until they are buried, but it would be difficult for him to do so for several weeks. As a temporary solution, he is asking the Bolivar County Board of Supervisors for a storage unit. Seals stated that he plans to work with the county in the long-term to create a permanent facility. He used the Bolivar County Medical Center’s morgue to store the bodies or a private funeral home. Seals stated that he can still do this, but Bolivar County Medical Center has only enough space to hold two bodies and the funeral home’s space is limited due to private business. Seals stated that although it is not at a point where there are many bodies, there are times when we can’t store them because there are already bodies in the [holding] spaces. We would need to call a local funeral home to ask them to take the body until another funeral home arrives from three to four hours away. This situation is further complicated by the state medical examiner’s woes. Mississippi Today reported in 2017 that the Mississippi Office of the Medical Examiner had the lowest staffing of any state medical examiner office. Seals claims he is able to get by, but with COVID-19 cases on the rise, Seals doesn’t expect it to stay that way. Seals stated that it leaves the county in an awkward or uncomfortable situation when these people die and the hospital cases are already full. Although he has not yet been charged with homicide, Seals said that he still has a case to send to the State Medical Examiner’s Office. However, due to state backlog, it could take weeks to get there. “I am housing the remains in a private place. He said that he knows it won’t last a month as these places are rapidly filling up. “So, I know that I will have to move it to the hospital next week until the hospital administration starts asking questions. It will then be necessary to move it in order to keep it. That is not fair and that is very sad.” Heather Burton, the Coroner in Sunflower County said that she doesn’t believe that it is fair. However, she added that she does not see the problem with Bolivar County having to move the refrigeration unit. Seals submitted his request for the unit to the Bolivar County Supervisors Aug. 3. They supported his plan. Will Hooker, County Administrator, stated that the board has not yet taken any official action on the purchase of the refrigeration unit. They are still considering the best options in terms of choosing which unit to buy. “We take this very seriously, and we have to do a better job of accommodating citizens. “I just want to tell you personally that this matter has been taken seriously and we will do our best to accommodate your citizens,” Supervisor Jacorius Linr told Seals during the Aug. 3 meeting. Seals was also praised by supervisors for being proactive. Seals stated later in an interview that “well to be honest, it’s not proactive.” “I’m actually operating behind that gun. “I’m blessed that I don’t have any [wrongful death] situations.”