Mass grave in New York hides 25 bodies a day since corona outbreak

About 25 people a day are buried on Hart Island, which has served as a poor people’s grave since the 19th century. In this way, the city tries to make the situation feasible for morgues. They must recover more bodies than is feasible since the outbreak of the corona crisis.

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Those who have no next of kin to claim them within fourteen days will rest on Hart Island. At least temporarily, because the victims can still be excavated. Mayor Bill DeBlasio said earlier this week it was possible that temporary funerals would continue on Hart Island. Two new trenches have already been dug at the old poor man’s grave, located in the Bronx borough, “in case they are needed,” said Jason Kersten, spokesperson for the responsible department.

On Thursday morning, a refrigerated truck with about 25 corpses arrived. Under normal circumstances, about 25 people are buried per week, often by inmates of Riker’s Island Prison. Melinda Hunt, chair of the nonprofit Hart Island Project, reported this week The New York Post although more funerals were going on. In the meantime, this concerns about 25 people per working day, says Kersten. Now they work with workers who wear protective clothing, and no longer with the detainees.

Not all deaths will be covid-19 victims. According to the authorities, it would take some time before all causes of death are collected.

Store in refrigerated trucks

New York is currently the epicenter of the corona outbreak in the United States. More than 5,200 people have already died. The New York morgues can, according to Business Insider normally keep nine hundred bodies cool. Another 4,000 bodies can be stored in the forty refrigerated trucks. Although a body is normally kept for thirty days, the city is now forced to reduce the period to fourteen days.

Temporary burials may be held on Hart Island if morgue capacity is exceeded. That point has not yet been reached. ‘We hope it won’t come to that, but at the same time we are prepared if it does,’ says Kersten.

Aidscrisis

It is not the first time a virus has wreaked havoc in New York: since 1985, thousands of people who died of AIDS were buried on Hart Island. Exactly how many people are still unknown. The corpses of AIDS victims were first buried in a remote corner of the island, for fear they would contaminate the other corpses. Later they were also placed at the mass graves. More than 100,000 people in New York City died of AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hart Island has been a resting place for people with no known relatives since the nineteenth century. Before that, it included a psychiatric hospital, a prison camp, a homeless shelter and a drug rehabilitation center. The coffins have the names of the deceased written in large inscription to enable re-excavation. There are more than a million dead.

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