A long-term morgue has been constructed in New York City less than a week after dozens of bodies were discovered decomposing in U-Haul trucks outside an overwhelmed funeral home.
The disaster morgue was set up at Brooklyn’s 39th Street Pier, and bodies will be stored at the facility to help assist local funeral services and companies that have become overwhelmed by the large quantity of bodies during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Monday news release from the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The morgue’s installation comes as a “bereavement task force” was convened in light of the pandemic’s effect on the “death care system.” In addition to Pier 39, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced that personal protective equipment will be provided to cemetery and funeral home workers, and the office’s hours will be extended to 10:30 p.m. to handle the influx in bodies better.
“The additional morgue operating hours will also help funeral directors by providing them with evening hours for transfers since they spend the vast majority of the daytime hours conducting funerals, making arrangements, and answering calls from families seeking their services,” Michael Lanotte, executive director of the New York State Funeral Directors Association, told CNN.
There have been more than 181,000 cases of the coronavirus in New York City and at least 18,580 deaths, according to a tally by the New York Times.
Last week, a Brooklyn funeral home seized national attention when authorities uncovered dozens of decomposing bodies in unrefrigerated trucks outside Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services. The funeral home reportedly stopped storing bodies when its freezer stopped working.
“Why don’t you ask the crematory and the cemetery why they don’t take the bodies from the funeral home?” an unidentified person from the funeral home told the Washington Examiner when contacted. “Unless you’re asking me to bury your loved one, do not call my place of business.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called the discovery “unacceptable” and vowed to work on the issue. In the Monday press release about the task force and Pier 39, Adams highlighted the importance of the matter.
“Even a public health crisis of this magnitude should not get in the way of treating decedents with basic dignity. These aren’t just pieces of flesh; these are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones,” he said.
“That’s why we are convening this task force today — to come up with a comprehensive set of proposals to ensure that the unimaginable pain of losing a loved one is not compounded by seeing their body treated in a disrespectful manner,” he added.
