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Beaumont Hospital is at the center of a probe by Wayne County Health Department investigators after a tip led to the discovery of a makeshift morgue containing the bodies of 50 coronavirus victims.
"The Wayne County Health Division has launched an investigation to determine whether county health ordinances were violated by the hospital," William Nowling, a spokesman for Wayne County said in a Fox 2 Detroit report.
Investigators went to the hospital on Tuesday to inquire about the report and were initially turned away by hospital administrators. Investigators and Wayne County sheriff's deputies were eventually allowed into the warehouse, where the bodies of coronavirus victims were being stored, the CBS affiliate in Detroit reported.
The probe comes just days after Beaumont Health announced they were laying off nearly 2,500 employees and terminating another 450, due to significant first-quarter profit losses related to the COVDI-19 outbreak.
Mark Geary, director of external communications for Beaumont Health, said investigators arrived without any advanced notice and demanded to inspect the converted warehouse, and were not fitted with any masks or personal protective equipment.
Beaumont Health, one of Michigan's largest health care providers, said it sought and received approval to store the bodies in the warehouse from Department of Community Development and Planning in Wayne, as well as the city's building department and fire marshals office on April 6, as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning to peak in the area, Geary said.
"Once we obtained approval, we worked quickly to ensure that part of the warehouse space could serve this temporary purpose in a safe, appropriate, and respectful way," Geary said in a statement. "Beaumont continues to use the rest of the warehouse to store much-needed supplies we distribute to our hospitals across metro Detroit."
However, city officials in Wayne denied Beaumont ever obtained permission to use the building as a temporary morgue, according to the CBS affiliate in Detroit.
Numerous attempts by Newsweek to reach Geary at Beaumont Wayne Hospital and officials with the City of Wayne for additional comments before publication were unsuccessful.
The counties surrounding the Detroit metropolitan area have been among the hardest hit in Michigan by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 13,912 reported cases in Wayne County, 6,306 in Oakland County, and 4,544 in Macomb County, accounting for most of the 2,575 coronavirus-related deaths in the state, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, morgues have overflowed and hospitals in Michigan are looking at alternatives to morgue space until they can be released for burial or cremation.
In the north Detroit suburb of Oakland County, hospitals are considering using ice rinks as a last resort, Fox 2 Detroit reported.
"They've done everything that they can, and they finally reached that point where they can't handle it—and that's what we are here for," said Casimir Miarka, Oakland County Medical Examiner Administrator.
Miarka said using ice rinks will only be considered if refrigeration trucks—53-foot trailers that are used to transport meat and other refrigerated produce to grocery stores—are full or not available.
04/22/20, 5:11 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with information that the City of Wayne denies Beaumont Health asked for approval to use the warehouse as a morgue. The headline has also been updated to correct the classifcation of the building as 'vacant' as the hospital uses it for supply storage.
