Police discover 17 bodies in New Jersey nursing home hit hard by COVID-19: report

Residents of nursing homes can be vulnerable to coronavirus for a number of reasons: (1) the residents are older, (2) they are more likely to have chronic health conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, and (3) they share the facilities with a lot of other patients. And on Monday, according to the New York Times, police found the bodies of 17 people piled into a small morgue inside a nursing home in Andover, New Jersey about 50 miles from New York City.

Andover Police Chief Eric C. Danielson told the Times, “They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring.”

Those 17 people, however, are not the only ones who have died at the Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II in Sussex County, New Jersey. Altogether, according to the Times, 68 people have died in that nursing home (which includes two separate buildings). Among those 68, 26 had tested positive for coronavirus, although Times reporter Tracey Tully notes that the cause of death is “unknown” for the other 42. Continue reading.