NYC Parks May Be Used as Temporary Burial Locations for People Who Die From Coronavirus

As of Monday, 4,758 people in the State of New York have died due to complications with the virus.

Apr 06, 2020
A man covers his face as the sun rises behind in Manhattan
Getty

Image via Getty/Kena Betancur

A man covers his face as the sun rises behind in Manhattan
Getty

Image via Getty/Kena Betancur

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to take hold in New York City health officials might have to prepare for a "gruesome reality."

On Monday, New York City Council Health Committee chair Mark Levine revealed that the growing number of bodies that have died due to COVID-19 is leading to the freezer at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Manhattan and Brooklyn inching toward their capacity. If they can no longer hold bodies, the city may start using public parks as "temporary internment" sites.

NYC’s healthcare system is being pushed to the limit.

And sadly, now so is the city’s system for managing our dead. And it, too, needs more resources.

This has big implications for grieving families. And for all of us. 1/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

"Soon we'll start 'temporary internment'. This likely will be done by using a NYC park for burials (yes you read that right). Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line," Levine tweeted. "It will be done in a dignified, orderly--and temporary--manner. But it will be tough for NYers to take."

Read the rest of his thread, below.

NYC’s “city morgue” is the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), which luckily is the best in the world.

But they are now dealing w/ the equivalent of an ongoing 9/11. And so are hospital morgues, funeral homes & cemeteries.

Every part of this system is now backed up. 2/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

A typical hospital morgue might hold 15 bodies. Those are now all full. So OCME has sent out 80 refrigerated trailers to hospitals around the city. Each trailer can hold 100 bodies. These are now mostly full too. Some hospitals have had to add a 2nd or even a 3rd trailer. 3/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Grieving families report calling as many as half a dozen funeral homes and finding none that can handle their deceased loved ones.

Cemeteries are not able to handle the number of burial requests and are turning most down. 4/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

It’s not just deaths in hospitals which are up. On an average day before this crisis there were 20-25 deaths at home in NYC. Now in the midst of this pandemic the number is 200-215. *Every day*. 5/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don't have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. 6/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Now only those few who had a test confirmation *before* dying are marked as victims of coronavirus on their death certificate. This almost certainly means we are undercounting the total number of victims of this pandemic. 7/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

And still the number of bodies continues to increase. The freezers at OCME facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn will soon be full. And then what? 8/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

The goal is to avoid scenes like those in Italy, where the military was forced to collect bodies from churches and even off the streets.

OCME is going to need much more staff to achieve that goal. 10/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Thankfully the Dept. of Defense and the NY National Guard have already sent teams, and volunteer medical examiners have come from around the country. But we are going to need much more help if we're going to avoid disaster. 11/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

As New York City continues to appeal to the nation for help, we need to ask not just for doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists. We also need mortuary affairs staff. This is tough to talk about and maybe tough to ask for. But we have no choice. The stakes are too high. 12/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

To recap: Nothing matters more in this crisis than saving the living. But we need to face the gruesome reality that we need more resources to manage our dead as well. Or the pain of this crisis will be compounded almost beyond comprehension. 13/13

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

With the United States becoming the country with the most reported cases of coronavirus, New York is now considered the virus' epicenter. As of Monday, 4,758 people have died due to complications with the virus and there are 130,689 confirmed cases (72,181 in New York City). The New York Times claims that 599 people died of the virus heading into Monday. Although this number is staggering, Gov. Andrew Cuomo claims that it is a lower spike than the increases recorded during previous days.

Per Levine, if this trend continues and the curve flattens then New York City won't have to resort to temporary internment.

"This tweet has gotten a lot of attention," Levine said in a quote tweet. "So I want to clarify: the is a contingency NYC is preparing for BUT if the death rate drops enough it will not be necessary."

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