NEW YORK – The violent advance of the coronavirus in New York State continues. The shocking toll of fatalities – which now number more than 7,800 – have begun to saturate the post-mortem care system and authorities are analyzing the possibility of resorting to temporary burials.
Since the 19th century, Hart Island, a small isolated piece of land a few meters from the Bronx, has been used as a burial space for unidentified people (commonly known as NN), or by families who do not have sufficient financial means for a burial in another place.
Since then, the Department of Corrections – in charge of the care and protection of the incarcerated population – has led the tasks that these burials mean in New York City. Typically, inmates worked with about 25 bodies per week. Today there are two dozen per day.
This morning disturbing aerial images have been released They search workers in white protective gear burying multiple wooden crates in a row in a grave on the island. The terrible scene generated a situation of general alarm, especially in the networks where theories of all kinds have circulated. #TrumpBurialPits has become a trend in the last few hours as a result of the photos.
To avoid the exposure of massive infections in prisons (where there is already a record of multiple infected), the DOC has decided to hire workers to carry out these tasks, according to a government spokesperson.
Dazed by the level of sensationalism the images generated, the mayor of the city Bill de Blasio implored to remember that each deceased person is a human being, a neighbor who got lost. “I want to make sure that everyone knows what they are seeing in those photos and what is happening on Hart Island,” the official wrote on his Twitter account.
“There will be no mass burials on Hart Island. All bodies will be treated with dignity and individuality,” De Blasio stressed, adding: “We do not anticipate temporary burials on the island, except for unclaimed bodies.”
In this regard, the mayor of the city of New York indicated that when a loved one dies, their remains are kept until they are ready to fulfill the burial arrangements. “Days, weeks, months does not matter. Covid-19 will not change this,” he said.
“This virus is taking a terrible toll. We lose hundreds of neighbors every day,” He noted, and said that they have brought help from the federal government to ensure compassion and respect for all families who must wait for the bodies of their loved ones to be ready to make the desired arrangements.
New York City has been on alert for a few days when Councilman Mark Levine created a scandal at social and governmental levels by announcing that the city would decide to use parks for temporary burials. The information not only turned out to be wrong, but the authorities have not yet outlined measures in this regard.
This medium had access to the manual that bears the name “Wave of Fatalities from Biological Incidents: Plan for the Management of Deaths Inside and Outside the Hospital”. The nearly 700-page document is a product produced by the Big Apple’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Barbara A. Sampson, and sets out the procedures and steps to take into account in a health crisis like this one.
According to the document, the strategy that means temporarily burying people on city property requires the joint approval of the OCME and the Mayor’s Office. Furthermore, it would only occur if there were “extreme delays in the post-mortem processing” of the victims’ bodies.
The plan that assesses catastrophic scenarios has Hart Island as a selected location for temporary burials. It should be noted that what is seen in the images today does not reflect this contingency plan, but rather the burial in common graves of unidentified people. Jerry Freddy Goldstein, spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a statement to the New York Post, stressed: “It is possible that people who have died from Covid-19 and who meet the conditions [de ser personas no identificadas] be buried on the island in the next few days. “
In dialogue with THE NATION, Aja Worthy-Davis, a functionary for the Office of the Medical Examiner (OCME) in New York City, explained that it has not yet been resolved to implement the measure, and that the city awaits the system can contain the high death toll so you don’t have to use it.
In this sense, in his daily press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo highlighted his total ignorance about the burial of coronavirus victims on Hart Island.
Differences in death count appear
The New York State government, led by Governor Andrew Cuomo, announces the progress of cases and the increase in deaths every day. To count those who have lost their lives, the authorities rely solely on diagnosed patients who have died in a hospital.
The method – according to announcements made in recent days by the mayor of the city Bill de Blasio – would be leaving thousands of people out of the account. The official indicated that agents of the New York Fire Department lift a total of 100 to 200 bodies from homes in the city daily. Everything would indicate that these people died at home after having battled and lost the fight against the coronavirus.
It is expected, then, the probability that in the next few days a disparity will be seen between the figures reported by the city and state authorities.
40 days after the first case announced in New York, Governor Cuomo has decided to extend the closure of non-essential businesses and schools until April 29. The measure had been carried out for the first time on March 22. Since then, the Big Apple has undergone an unthinkable transformation and everything indicates that this present will extend in time for much longer.
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