A Detroit hospital is stacking bodies in empty rooms because the morgue is full

• Emergency room workers from Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace shared photos with CNN that showed dead bodies were put in a room typically used for sleep studies when the morgue was full.
• Another photo showed bodies stacked in a portable refrigerator unit outside the hospital.
• The hospital, where nurses protested under-staffing issues last week, has seen a surge of coronavirus patients in recent weeks.
• Michigan has had 25,635 people test positive for COVID-19, and 1,602 people die from the virus.
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Staff at a Detroit hospital facing an overwhelming surge in coronavirus patients is stacking dead bodies in empty rooms of its facility after the morgue hit its capacity, according to a report from CNN.

Emergency room workers from Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace — where nurses protested under-staffing issues last week — anonymously spoke to CNN about the conditions at the hospital in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The ER employees said that bodies were put in a room typically used for sleep studies because the morgue was full. A photo of the room showed two bodies on a bed, with a third propped up in a chair. Another photo showed bodies piled in a portable refrigerator unit.

"All I know is we ran out of beds to keep our patients on so we couldn't spare any for the bodies," one ER employee told CNN of putting bodies in the sleep study room. "It was because we hadn't gotten our outside freezers yet, so those rooms had beds and the morgue people don't work over night."

Brian Taylor, a spokesman for the DMC, told the Detroit Free Press that the coronavirus had "caused significantly greater than normal mortality rates" in the city and surrounding community.

"This has resulted in capacity issues at funeral homes and morgues outside of Sinai-Grace Hospital," Taylor told the outlet. "Patients who pass away at our hospital are treated with respect and dignity, remaining on-site until they can be appropriately released."

As of April 14, at least 25,635 people in Michigan have tested positive for COVID-19 and 1,602 have died from the virus. Wayne County, where Detroit is located, accounts for 760 of the state's COVID-19 deaths.

Responding to the photos obtained by CNN, Taylor told the Free Press: "Like hospitals in New York and elsewhere, we have secured additional resources such as mobile refrigeration units to help temporarily manage the capacity issue caused by COVID-19."

"In addition, there are a large number of nursing homes in the area surrounding the hospital," Taylor added. "Among the patient population served by Sinai-Grace, there are extremely high rates of underlying medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, which puts people at higher risk for COVID-19. Sinai-Grace Hospital remains dedicated to its mission of providing quality compassionate care to the Detroit community."

Hospitals in the Henry Ford and Beaumont health systems also told the Free Press that they are storing dead bodies in refrigerated trucks.

Meanwhile, as of April 13, nearly 3,000 healthcare employees in the Detroit area either tested positive for COVID-19 or had symptoms of the virus, according to Buzzfeed News.

There are more than 100,000 people work in healthcare in the Detroit metro area, Buzzfeed News reported, but the amount of sick employees has led to staff shortages on the front lines of the pandemic.