LAUREL, Md. — A shuttered ice rink that had been used as a temporary morgue is now getting ready to reopen for skating, hockey and other more cheerful events.
Back in May, when Maryland's death toll from COVID peaked, a state delegate said as many 50 bodies were stored at The Gardens Ice House.
The bodies, unclaimed quickly by relatives, were held not on the ice, but in body bags on raised platforms, each covered with a Maryland flag, according to state Delegate Mary Lehman, whose children learned to skate at the rink.
Maryland National Capital Park Police officers stood guard outside, and mortuary vans arrived regularly in May and June.
Lehman said the sense among state leaders was that it was more dignified to have the deceased held here instead of in refrigerated trucks. The Gardens Ice House said some of the bodies were of COVID-19 victims, but others fell victim to other diseases.
State data shows Maryland COVID deaths peaked at 74 on May 5, and Lehman said it had overwhelmed the State Anatomy Board's ability to store bodies.
But now, as deaths have steadily declined, The Ice House has announced plans on its website to reopen, perhaps as soon as Sept. 14. The state, it says, has promised to thoroughly clean and disinfect the facility before it reopens.
"The Maryland Department of Health is taking advantage of the encouraging numbers in the state to evolve our temporary mortuary affairs center response," a spokesperson for the Department of Health said. "We are working with the State Anatomy Board to transition to a dignified and less disruptive alternate location."
Out front, the Ice House has opened a commemorative garden, dedicated to all the emergency and healthcare workers who risked their lives and to all the others whose lives were taken by the coronavirus.
The State Anatomy Board said on its website that it will hold bodies for a minimum of three days, and for as long as a week. But during the pandemic, advocates said it's sometimes proven difficult for families to make arrangements that quickly.