At the height of the first wave of the coronavirus, when New York City was swamped with corpses, she chose to use refrigerated trucks as temporary morgues. But a year later, some trucks are still there. In the Brooklyn neighborhood, vehicles still contain 750 people who have died of Covid. Since last spring, they have been waiting to be buried with dignity.
“Why do we still have these temporary facilities?” Protested Mark Gjonaj, a Democrat member of the city’s municipal council. “If families have already expressed their desire to have their dead buried in a specific location, why are we delaying this longer than necessary?” He asked.
If, at the time, the use of these trucks to deal with excess mortality was understandable. Today, it is difficult to admit that they are still there.
Where to bury them?
At a recent meeting, authorities vowed they would do everything possible to quickly reduce the number of corpses. But it’s still very slow. Yet according to The City, families have already expressed their wishes regarding their deceased loved ones. Most would have decided to have them buried on Hart Island, the largest mass grave in the United States, while the other party, she simply did not respond to requests for contact from the authorities. In other words, it is likely that the victims all end up on Hart Island. As explained The Independent, this place, located off the Bronx, has long been the burial ground for the city’s dead and unclaimed poor. “However, we will continue to work with families,” said Dina Maniotis, deputy commissioner of the forensic office.
According to analyzes, 2,334 adults were burned on Hart Island in 2020, twice as many as in 2019.
Put an end to the trucks
The images of refrigerated trucks parked in front of hospitals at the height of the crisis have left a deep mark on New Yorkers and the rest of the world. Without them, the city would never have been able to support hospitals and morgues, completely overwhelmed by the number of bodies to be managed.
“These trucks were intended to ensure that families can bury their loved ones as they see fit,” said the spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office. But, today, they have become the scars of a crisis that everyone would like to forget. Especially since the city is doing much better today. Contaminations and deaths due to Covid continue to decrease. With its favorable situation, New York City has even recently organized vaccination campaigns for tourists.
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