New Jersey nursing home: tip leads police to 17 bodies in facility’s morgue

“The staff was clearly overwhelmed and probably short-staffed,” Andover Police Chief Eric Danielson, one of the responding officers, told CNN. “The residents were expiring. Why? We’re not sure if it’s from Covid-19 or from other diseases, but we tried our best to ease the burden.”

When officers arrived Monday, they found each of the 17 bodies in a body bag with a tag identifying the deceased. The morgue was only intended to hold up to four people, according to The New York Times.

Four bodies remained on site, and the other 13 were transferred to a refrigerated trailer at Newton Medical Center. Danielson did not provide any identifying details regarding the victims.

CNN has reached out to the center.

Danielson said he was in awe seeing so many bodies.

“It is by far one of the most bodies at one time that I’ve experienced in terms of a nursing home. Based upon the pandemic and the numbers we saw coming out of the facility, I don’t know if I’m necessarily shocked about that. It’s an unfortunate situation altogether,” Danielson said.

According to the Times, 68 deaths have been linked to the facility and the Andover Subacute and Rehab Centers I, officials said, and 26 of those people tested positive for the virus.