City faces mortuary crisis amid pandemic
BY MARK HALLUM
Manhattan Councilman Mark
Levine illustrated on Monday a
bleak reality – and near future –
for the city’s morgue and cemetery capacity
in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
City parks could soon be used for temporary
interment of the death as bodies
accumulate beyond available storage in
hospitals and government facilities, all
while cemeteries are starting to turn away
families hoping to put loved ones to rest,
Levine said in a Monday morning Twitter
thread.
This shocking statement was rejected by
not only City Hall, but also by Governor
Andrew Cuomo who called it a “wild”
claim that he had heard nothing about.
“We are NOT currently planning to
use local parks as burial grounds. We are
exploring using Hart Island for temporary
burials, if the need grows,” mayoral spokeswoman
Freddi Goldstein said on Twitter.
The severity of the mortuary situation
would not appear to be totally lost on
Mayor Bill de Blasio who has made mention
of a secondary crisis on at least two
occasions.
De Blasio addressed the issue of delayed
death certifi cates at an April 3 press
REUTERS/JEENAH MOON REFILE - CLARIFYING CAPTION
Men take a body from a truck outside a funeral home during the outbreak of
the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., April 5, 2020.
Crime drops city-wide as spread of coronavirus continues
BY TODD MAISEL
Overall crime fell in every borough
on the streets, in the transit system
and public housing by 4.2%
as the coronavirus has kept people home
and closed businesses, police offi cials said
last week.
During the last two weeks between
March 12-31, crime fell even further —the
only silver lining of COVID-19. Among
the crimes that have dropped are murders,
down 25% (12 versus 16) – robberies are
down 10% (551 versus 612), and grand larcenies
are down 37% (1,334 versus 2,115).
Despite the drop this month, the city
is still experiencing a 12.4% increase in
overall crimes for the First Quarter of
2020 (22,949 v. 20,410), not including
misdemeanors.
The shift from the time the city
declared a state of emergency is clear
according to the NYPD: From March 1
through March 11, overall index crime increased
by 27.8% (2,934 v. 2,296) when
compared to the same period a year ago.
From March 12 through March 31, overall
index crime decreased by 19.9% (3,740 v.
4,670) when compared to the same period
in 2019.
conference as well as aid coming from the
federal government to deal with back-up
mortuary situation.
“I can tell you that I’ve had extensive discussions
with FEMA and the Department
of Defense and to the credit of both of them
they have sent in all the personnel and, and
equipment that we asked for to help deal
A NYPD Detective, clad in a mask and wearing gloves, investigates a shooting
on Rutland Road and East 95 Street in Brooklyn on March 29, 2020.
Some crimes are continuing in the city
as several shootings occurred over the
weekend including a man shot in his car
in East Flatbush and another man shot in
the leg in Bedford Stuyvesant. However,
fewer people have been shot as a result of
fewer people being on the streets and social
distancing is keep disputes at a minimum.
Offi cials in the past have maintained
that changes needed to occur in the criminal
justice reforms as some people were
with this challenge,” de Blasio said. “It’s
over a hundred federal personnel, including
military personnel who’ve come in with the
equipment needed to help deal with this
crisis on the mortuary side.”
Levine said the time had come for the
city to address the mortuary crisis head on.
“NYC’s “city morgue” is the Offi ce of the
PHOTO BY LLOYD MITCHELL
committing crimes repeatedly after being
released from custody. The NYPD and
the mayor called from more discretion for
judges to jail those who present a danger
to the community, which has irked many
criminal justice reformers. Legislation is
pending that would make changes that
some deem necessary, while reformers say
it is “inappropriate at this time.”
While most crimes are down, the NYPD
has refocused on domestic violence as
Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), which
luckily is the best in the world. But they are
now dealing w/ the equivalent of an ongoing
9/11. And so are hospital morgues, funeral
homes & cemeteries,” Levine wrote.
“Grieving families report calling as many
as half a dozen funeral homes and fi nding
none that can handle their deceased loved
ones. Cemeteries are not able to handle the
number of burial requests and are turning
most down.”
While an average day in New York City
might see 20 to 25 deaths at home, Levine
said the number is now about 200 to 215.
Now so many people are dying that the city
can no longer get swabs of individuals to
establish a cause on their death certifi cates.
“This almost certainly means we are
undercounting the total number of victims
of this pandemic,” Levine added.
Temporary interment in parks for caskets
10 in a row would be “dignifi ed,” but
a heart-wrenching scene for New Yorkers
to behold, according to Levine.
The mayor had also commented on
March 30 that the USNS Comfort would
bring additional resources to the city in
order to “help us with the forensics and
the mortuary problems that we’re going
have, because we are going to have an awful
lot of folks that aren’t going to make it.”
families are huddled in their homes sheltering
in place. This has caused some stress in
homes and there have been several violent
incidents, including one in Astoria, Queens
over the weekend where a grandson killed
his grandmother and himself.
NYPD offi cials say teams of committed
domestic violence offi cers are working to
take reports and check in on New Yorkers
in all fi ve boroughs amid this ongoing
coronavirus crisis. Offi cers are conducting
phone calls to supplant face-to-face visits,
sharing safety plans and cell phone access
with them and carefully setting code words
for them to use as they survive in close
quarters. Precinct cops are following up
with victims to make sure both victims and
their children are safe.
The NYPD is also focusing on hate
crimes, especially those crimes that create
the perception that Asian Americans were
somehow responsible for coronavirus.
There have been 11 cases where all the
victims were Asian and targeted due to
discrimination based on COVID-19. Seven
people have been arrested linked to these
incidents.
Year-to-date, through March 29, citywide
hate crimes are down 20.0% (90 v.
112).
8 April 9, 2020 Schneps Media