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The U.S. Department of Defense reportedly is planning to send 85 refrigerated trucks to New York City by mid-April as the number of coronavirus deaths there has nearly filled its morgues to capacity.
Funeral homes have described the situation as a “state of emergency.”
The request was made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to ABC News, and comes as New York state has recorded 2,473 deaths as a result of COVID-19.
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“Refrigerated trucks are being utilized as expanded morgue spaces citywide,” a spokesperson for the New York City medical examiner’s office told Fox News on Friday.
Funeral homes and cemeteries are also finding themselves overwhelmed as the body count continues to escalate.
Pat Marmo, who runs a funeral home in Brooklyn, told the Associated Press that it is normally equipped to handle 40 to 60 cases at a time. But as of Thursday, it was taking care of 185.
Employees deliver a body at Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, Thursday, April 2, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The company is equipped to handle 40-60 cases at a time. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was taking care of 185 Thursday morning. (AP)
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“This is a state of emergency,” he said, describing how he’s told families to insist local hospitals hold their dead loved ones as long as possible. “We need help.”
Marmo added that he’s trying to find his own refrigerated truck to help store the dead. One company quoted him a price of $6,000 per month, and others are refusing outright because they don’t want their equipment used for bodies.
Patrick Kearns, a fourth-generation funeral director in the New York City borough of Queens, said the industry has never experienced anything like this. His family was prepared on 9/11 for their business to be overrun, but with so many bodies lost amid the rubble, the rush never came.
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They are seeing it now, as the Kearns’ business in Rego Park is just minutes from Elmhurst Hospital, a hotspot in the city, which itself has emerged as the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Through the first 15 days of March, the family’s four funeral homes held 15 services. In the second half of the month, they had 40.
Like Marmo, Kearns has converted a small chapel into a makeshift refrigerator with an air conditioner.
The surge in deaths is coming at a time when there are tight restrictions on gatherings, making saying goodbye a lonely process at some New York City cemeteries.
“The whole process, including the experience for the family during the funeral, is one of sort of isolation rather than the support,” Bonnie Dixon, president of Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens, told the AP.
Bodies are wrapped in protective plastic in a holding facility at Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, Thursday, April 2, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The company is equipped to handle 40-60 cases at a time. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, it was taking care of 185 Thursday morning. (AP)
Jackie McQuade, a funeral director at Schuyler Hill funeral home in the Bronx, has struggled to tell families no. But she has no choice, given rules limiting services to immediate family only, if that.
One cemetery she worked with has locked its gates to family and friends. Only she and a priest were allowed at the site of a burial. She photographed the casket being lowered, hoping it could bring some closure to the family.
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“We would be going crazy if it were one of our loved ones,” she said. “We’re bearers of bad news on top of a sad situation.”
Fox News’ Ben Evansky and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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