An anonymous tip led police to one of New Jersey’s largest nursing homes this week, where desperate staff were forced to pile 17 bodies inside a small morgue as dozens of coronavirus deaths overwhelmed the facility.
Reports say the morgue was meant to hold only four bodies.
The grim scene, first reported by The New York Times, shines a light on the larger despair being felt at many of the nation’s long-term elderly care centers, where the virus has killed nearly 5,000 so far.
New Jersey authorities said employees at Andover Subacute and Rehab Centers in Sussex County — where 68 have died so far — “were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring,” The New York Times reported.
At least 26 of the people who have died tested positive for the virus, although it is unclear if the bodies police discovered in the morgue were victims of COVID-19. The dead also included two nurses.
Andover, which is housed in two buildings, is still caring for 76 who have tested positive for the virus. At least 41 staff members, including an administrator, are also sick with the virus, according to the Times, citing county health records.
Police were first dispatched after being told that a body was discovered in a shed outside the facility, which was never confirmed. On Saturday, the facility placed an order for more body bags to be delivered, the Times reported.
The Times reports that 13 of the bodies discovered on Monday at the Andover facility were moved to a refrigerated truck outside a hospital in nearby Newton. A funeral home had made arrangements to pick up the other four.
Because the federal government has not been releasing a count, The Associated Press has been keeping a running tally of nursing home outbreak deaths based on media reports and state health departments. The AP’s latest count of at least 4,817 deaths is up from about 450 just two weeks ago.
AP reports that federal health officials are coming under increasing pressure to start publicly tracking coronavirus infections and deaths in nursing homes amid criticism they have not been transparent about the scope of outbreaks across the country that have already claimed thousands of lives.
Experts say the lack of tracking and transparency has been a major blind spot, and that publicizing outbreaks as they happen could not only alert nearby communities and anguished relatives but also help officials see where to focus testing and other safety measures.
A nursing home in Washington state became the first COVID-19 hot spot in the U.S. with an outbreak that ultimately killed 43 people and a near-daily drumbeat of new cases that in some cases has forced entire homes to be evacuated, according to The Associated Press.
Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Richmond, Virginia, reached 45 deaths this week.
Many elderly care facilities around the nation are severely understaffed and overwhelmed by elderly residents living in poor health and without the space needed to social distance.
“A publicly funded nursing home is a virus’s dream,” said Dr. Jim Wright, Canterbury’s medical director, according to AP. “It is the best place for a virus to be. People are close together. Their immune systems are compromised. It is just a tinderbox for that match.”
Federal guidelines are prohibited immediate family members from visiting relatives who live at the facilities.
— Information provided by The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.
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