Respirators and hospital beds aren't the only things New York is short of during the coronavirus pandemic. With more than 2,400 deaths in New York City alone, they're running out of places to put bodies.
Since the city can't permanently bury the bodies without depriving loved ones of a proper service and burial, Mayor Bill de Blasio is working on a plan to temporarily bury them. "If we need to do temporary burials to tide us over ... we have the ability to do that," de Blasio says. City officials would then "work with each family on their appropriate arrangements," he adds.
Although de Blasio did not identify a potential burial lot, the city once eyed a 101-acre area on Hart Island in case burial space was needed in a flu pandemic. "The focus right now is to get through this crisis and saving those we can save," de Blasio says. "We will have the capacity for temporary burials."
Is it disrespectful to bury people, dig them up and bury them again? Where else could they store bodies?
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