'Temporary Morgue' For Will County Coronavirus Victims

JOLIET, IL — A refrigerated semitrailer parked behind the Will County Morgue on Caton Farm Road is now being used to store the bodies of an undisclosed number of local residents who died recently from the new coronavirus.

Last week, Joliet news radio station 1340-AM WJOL reported the presence of the refrigerated semitrailer behind the Will County Coroner's Office morgue facility. The fenced-in property is off-limits to the public. The building on the county-owned land is where the coroner's pathologists and medical staff perform autopsies.

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On Monday, Will County Deputy Chief Coroner Laurie Summers told Joliet Patch that the semitrailer is "a professional temporary morgue. Our biggest thing over the last five weeks is that we needed to get ahead of anything coming at us," she said.

The refrigerated morgue has been kept in the county morgue's parking lot for about a month.

Summers told Patch that people who recently died from the coronavirus are currently being kept inside Will County's temporary morgue.

"The COVID-19 morgue is a safety net for all of our staff," Summers said. "We've prepared for the worst and hope for the best scenario. Yes, we do have deceased in there, and that's all I can say."

Summers declined to say how many bodies are being kept in the refrigerated semitrailer.

Meanwhile, Will County Health Department spokesman Steve Brandy reported there are now 1,310 coronavirus cases countywide and seven more coronavirus deaths.

The seven latest cases bring Will County's total number of deaths to 66.

The latest victims from Will County included a man and a woman in their 60s, two men in their 70s, two men in their 80s and a woman in her 90s.

Of Will County's 66 coronavirus deaths:

• 5 people in their 90s
• 22 people in their 80s
• 15 people in their 70s
• 16 people in their 60s
• 5 people in their 50s
• 2 people in their 40s
• 1 person in their 30s

Regarding the use of the temporary morgue, Will County's chief deputy coroner told Joliet Patch, "The numbers we'll see as time goes on, everyone is going to be treated with respect and the dignity that they deserve."

Summers said it remained unclear as to how long Will County will need to keep the refrigerated semitrailer behind the county morgue building.

"I can't answer that for you," she told Joliet Patch. "Everything is moving every day. It's just fluid. You just don't know what you're dealing with. My hope is it will be gone by the end of the month — and that is not a prediction either, because it could be longer."

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