Michigan has mortuary response team ready to activate during COVID-19, if needed

(FOX 2) - Thousands of COVID-19 deaths in Michigan have placed a heavy burden on medical examiners across Metro Detroit. But a certain team is designed to step in when needed, helping get bodies back to loved ones much quicker. 

It's called the Michigan Mortuary Response Team, or MI-Mort. 

Before social distancing, before the curve needed to be flattened, a group of forensic professionals were watching a tidal wave form. 

"Back in early February we started to work on potential operational response plans," Timothy Schramm told us. He's a funeral director at Howe-Peterson in Dearborn and Taylor - and also the commander of MI-MORT.

"While we prepare, we plan, we train, we exercise. We all hope by the grace of God we are never actually needed."

In the event of a disaster like a tornado or a plane crash - or a viral pandemic - where the death toll can overwhelm the medical examiner, a team made up of forensic scientists, pathologists, anthropologists, funeral directors, dentists and others can be activated to help ID those who die, or, in this crisis, help find a place for the remains. 

"We've been working every day to be prepared for that activation," Schramm said. 

And when the pandemic first reached Michigan those preparations became more intense. 

"We certainly thought there was a good potential that we may have to activate."

As of now, MI-MORT has yet to be activated. And even though the state has been trending in the right direction in terms of the number of new COVID-19 cases, Scramm says he's fully aware their job is far from over. 

"We're always planning for those events."