Officials confirmed during a press conference Wednesday that the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's office morgue has hit capacity and are now using surge space.
The office's morgue exceeded the 150-body limit on Tuesday and is now using its surge capacity, officials said. The office's surge capacity can hold just over 200 bodies.
JUST IN: Maricopa Co. medical examiner’s office is now in surge capacity for bodies.
They have exceeded their 150 body limit and they have added their surge space.
Four coolers have been ordered.
Maricopa Co. is also calling funeral homes to see if they have extra space.
— Nicole Grigg (@NicoleSGrigg) July 15, 2020
Four coolers are expected to arrive to the medical examiner's officer Wednesday or Thursday for more body storage.
Additionally, the medical examiner's officer is reaching out to funeral homes to "make sure they're taking bodies in a timely fashion."
It is unclear how many of the deaths are related to COVID-19. However, the county said last week that the medical examiner's office sees more deaths in the summer with the heat.
A spokesperson for the county has said that the medical examiner only investigates sudden, unexpected or traumatic deaths.
At the Wednesday press conference a spokesperson said, "four coolers have been ordered initially with more potentially being ordered in the next few days, four coolers will give us extra capacity for 60 bodies," said Fields Moseley.
Watch the full press conference in the player below.
