New York: Bodies Of 750 Covid-19 Victims Continue To Be Stored In Refrigerated Trucks For Over A Year

Officials of the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner informed the New York City council health committee last week that remains of around 750 Covid-19 victims continue to be stored in refrigerated trucks for over a year now, reports Washington Examiner.

These makeshift morgues were created to store the bodies of deceased Covid-19 patients as the pandemic exploded at New York in spring last year.

Executive deputy commissioner with the medical examiner’s office Dina Maniotis has revealed that these bodies could probably end up at Hart Island, where the bodies of the poor and unclaimed individuals have been buried for more than a century now.

“We will continue to work with families. As soon as the family tells us they would like their loved one transferred to Hart Island, we do that very quickly,” Maniotis was quoted in a report by the Washington Post.

The medical examiner’s office has the capacity to deal with only 20 deaths on a daily basis. However, NYC was overwhelmed with as many as 200 casualties due to Covid-19 in March-April 2020.

The estimates gathered by the City and the Stabile Center shows that between 500-800 bodies have been stored in these trucks since April last year onward.

Maniotis also told the health commission that most families of the victims whose remains continue to be stored in trucks want them to be buried at the Hart Island. But, the city has also lost contacts with families of some of the victims in certain specific cases.