With the current situation going on in the world, there have been a lot more deaths in nursing homes than expected. Even though anyone can get infected with the novel coronavirus, it’s mostly the elders and people with immunodeficiency who are considered to be major risks for a fatal outcome. Everywhere around the world, the amount of deaths in nursing homes has staggered, and there’s no other way to describe it other than absolutely tragic.

Just last week, the New Jersey police received an anonymous tip about one the largest nursing homes in the state: they allegedly stored a dead body in a shed.

These are very severe accusations, of course, but the police officers knew they needed to check it out. When they first arrived at the nursing home, they were relieved as they didn’t find a body there.

However, when they searched the whole building more closely, they encountered something absolutely gruesome and even worse than the anonymous tip suggested.

The nursing home’s morgue only has room for four bodies, but the crew stored no less than seventeen deceased people in there.

The sight was just horrendous and something that the police officers at the scene will never forget.

Chief of Police of the town, Eric C. Danielson, still recalls what his officers told him.

“They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring,” the chief said to The New York Times.

The Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation nursing home was struck very hard by the SARS-CoV2 virus. There were at least 26 positive confirmations of residents who had the disease, and they estimate that at least 68 people died because of COVID-19. The rest were unconfirmed, but likely cases. Two of those were staff members.

Authorities claim that the nursing home requested 25 body bags, but the situation quickly became even worse. The representative who requested the delivery of the body bags then became sick herself, and there were a whole lot of additional staff members who were feeling ill and showed symptoms of COVID-19.

“She called and said, ‘We’re overwhelmed here,’” congressman and representative Josh Gottheimer said to NBC News.

Apparently, the bodies were relocated to the morgue to keep the other residents safe, even though the morgue was way too small.

The co-owner of the nursing home, Chaim Scheinbaum, released a statement shortly after the outbreak happened in the building.

“The health and safety of our residents and staff is our utmost priority and responsibility. Ownership and administration is working around the clock to ensure we are able to resolve the pandemic in the facility.”

Of course, the way how the facility handled the deceased bodies of the inhabitants was the source of a whole of controversy and criticism. Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey was extremely frustrated with the whole situation.

“I am also outraged that bodies of the dead were allowed to pile up in a makeshift morgue at the facility,” Scheinbaum added. “We can and must do better.”

The governor has now called for an investigation and will be checking other nursing homes as well if they have a very high death rate.

Tragically, at the time of writing, over 90% of all nursing home centers in the state have at least one confirmed COVID-19 patient. In some buildings, the outbreaks are extremely severe since the novel coronavirus is incredibly infectious and there’s often a shortage of medical supplies.

It was an absolutely tragic incident in this nursing home, we can only hope that we will be able to deal with the novel coronavirus soon. It’s important to keep your distance, wash your hands, and follow the guidelines!

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Source: Inside Edition, NBC New York, NBC News, BBC