NYC considers “temporary internment” on Hart Island as city morgues fill up

2020-04-07T12:24:00-04:00

New York City officials are starting to lay contingency plans if deaths from the coronavirus outbreak begin to overwhelm the capacity of morgues: temporarily burying the dead on public land. Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that the city would consider temporary burials if the deaths from the coronavirus outbreak exceed the space available in city and hospital morgues, but it had not reached that point.

A report from The New York Times highlights a recently proposed contingency plan that could utilize existing public cemetery facilities on Hart Island in The Bronx as temporary burial sites to help meet the city’s growing need for morgue and funerary spaces in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hart Island is currently used as a cemetery for the remains of people who die but go unclaimed in the city.

Previously on Archinect: “New York City enlists temporary morgues as existing facilities reach capacity.” Pictured: The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / Jim.henderson.

Last week, Archinect reported that the city’s existing morgue facilities were being supplemented by a fleet of refrigerated trucks. Those resources, as well as other temporary morgue arrangements, are continuing to fill up as the city’s death rate from COVID-19 grows.

New York City enlists temporary morgues as existing facilities reach capacity

2020-03-30T13:50:00-04:00

As the tragic nature of the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to take shape in New York City, reports have surfaced indicating that the city's hospitals and municipal departments are anticipating that regional morgue facilities will reach or exceed their designed capacity.

CNN reports that New York City officials have begun setting up makeshift morgues in refrigerated trailers outside of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens and New York Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, where a large number of COVID-19 related deaths have occurred.

Previously on Archinect: "US Army Corps of Engineers has a plan to convert hotels into “ICU-like” facilities." The Army Corps of Engineers has developed a standard plan for converting hotels into makeshift hospital wards. Shown: The Army Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons / AgnosticPreachersKid.

The development marks the first time that the city has set up such temporary facilities since the terrorist attacks of 9/1...

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NYC considers “temporary internment” on Hart Island as city morgues fill up

New York City enlists temporary morgues as existing facilities reach capacity