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Coronavirus News: Andover Rehabilitation must present NJ with plan after several bodies found

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Monday, April 20, 2020

Andover Rehabilitation facility must present plan to state

The New Jersey nursing home must present the state with a plan after dozens of COVID-19 deaths.

ANDOVER, New Jersey (WABC) -- The New Jersey rehabilitation facility where more than a dozen bodies were found in a morgue must present the state with a plan of action.

That's after Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation received several citations from the state and federal surveys.

The facility's parent company is required to present a plan Monday that includes an onsite infection prevention specialist.

The center has suffered 68 recent deaths, nearly half of them confirmed COVID-19 cases according to county health officials.

"It's horrific," says Congressman Josh Gottheimer.

According to Sussex Co. Dept. of Health, 68 residents have died since the beginning of the year and 33 deaths are due to coronavirus. The cause of deaths for the others is unknown.

Two nurses have also died from COVID-19.

The health department says another 76 residents and 41 staff members have tested positive.

Congressman Gottheimer said the nursing home is the largest in the state with over 500 beds and the focus right is saving lives.

"How do we help the residents there and how do we keep them safe? How do they get the care they need immediately, how do we save as many lives as possible? How do we stop the spread of the virus and how do we get PPE that staffing needs? It's triage mode to help them," he said.

Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center owner Mutty Scheinbaum released the following statement:

"The owners, administrators and our heroic healthcare staff of nurses and nurse aides have been working relentlessly to contain the virus and safeguard our residents and staff. The health and safety of our residents and staff is our utmost priority and responsibility. Ownership and administration is working around the clock to ensure we are able to resolve the pandemic. To clarify previous news reports ,there was a total of 15 bodies in our holding room on April 13th. 8 of them actually expired on April 13th and a total of 13 bodies were removed before midnight and occurred with the assistance of Andover police department."

New Jersey's attorney general has also launched an investigation.

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With information from The Associated Press