The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office is now over its normal capacity.

The Medical Examiner's Office typically has enough space for 150 bodies, but it exceeded that number on Tuesday.

County spokesman Fields Moseley says previously made plans are now underway to address the issue. 

“We’re entering our surge capacity and as we had planned for, if we needed to, we already had contracts in place to deal with this and bring in portable coolers as necessary,” Mosley said.

He says they have ordered four portable coolers so far, which would make space for 60 bodies. 

Multiple phone calls were made to funeral homes all across the county to see if they have any additional capacity, and to assess if they were taking bodies in a timely fashion.

Hospital morgues handle most COVID-19 fatalities.

But as those sites reach capacity, the ME must cope with the backlog. Marcy Flanagan, director of Maricopa County Department of Public Health, says it's "a domino effect."

Department of Emergency Management director Robert Rowley says the new capacity puts them "ahead of the curve."

"Currently, none of these portable coolers are being used, but they are operational and standing by if needed," he said.

The ME's office can typically store 150 bodies and has capacity to expand to 209.

Over the weekend, the population topped 150, and by Monday it had reached 181. As of Thursday morning, the number stood at 132.

In past summers, storage has exceeded capacity due in part to heat-related deaths, but the office has not needed to bring in coolers to accommodate the uptick for at least a decade, if ever.

Though funeral homes and hospitals do not report to the county health department, Flanagan says her department has contacted them. She said some hospitals anecdotally reported they are "at or nearing their capacity."

"When we talked to funeral homes, we did hear that many of them were at capacity and were not able to take additional bodies," said Flanagan.

The new ME coolers will accommodate an additional 294 bodies.

Due to the lag between when COVID-19 patients enter the hospital and when they die, it could be two weeks before officials know if that margin will be enough.