Refrigerated trailers are seen parked at the site of a makeshift morgue being built in New York, Wednesday, March 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
New York City could start burying its dead in city parks if the mortality rate from coronavirus doesn’t decline soon, according to City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine.
“Soon we'll start ‘temporary interment’. This likely will be done by using a NYC park for burials (yes you read that right). Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line,” Levine tweeted on Monday, adding that “it will be tough for NYers to take.”
Just as the number of COVID-19 infections has overwhelmed New York City hospitals, the number of deaths has begun to overwhelm the death care infrastructure, including the city’s system of morgues and now, it would seem, cemeteries. To supplement existing city- and hospital-owned morgues, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) purchased 45 refrigerated trucks to act as temporary morgues on top of 85 supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). According to Levine, most of those temporary morgues are now full and families with loved ones who have passed away due to COVID-19 are struggling to find funeral homes and cemeteries that will handle their deceased.
“Grieving families report calling as many as half a dozen funeral homes and finding none that can handle their deceased loved ones. Cemeteries are not able to handle the number of burial requests and are turning most down,” he wrote.
The councilmember’s comments attracted quite a bit of attention on Monday, earning more than 1,500 retweets and 1,800 likes, prompting Levine to clarify his earlier claims. In a later tweet, he called interment in city parks a “contingency” that wouldn’t be necessary if the death rate drops enough.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told the New York Times that although the city has the ability to temporarily bury the dead if needed, the city was “not at the point that we’re going to go into that.” Cuomo pleaded ignorance of the plan altogether, saying that he’d heard “a lot of wild rumors,” but never anything about burials in city parks, according to the Times.
Aja Worthy-Davis, an OCME spokesperson, said the city is only conducting city burials at Hart Island in the Bronx for now.
Reports out of overwhelmed countries like Italy and Ecuador detail coffins awaiting burial in churches and on streets, and horror stories of families living with deceased loved ones, sometimes for days, because of an overwhelmed death care system.
“The goal is to avoid scenes like those in Italy, where the military was forced to collect bodies from churches and even off the streets,” Levine wrote on Monday.
'And Just Like That' viewers we're left speechless after Carrie Bradshaw's 'Mr.Big' suffered a heart attack post-peloton ride and died in the show's premiere episode last week. This death by peloton caused a real-life hit to the company's stock, but it appears peloton has already bounced back. Tiffany Rolfe, R/GA's Global Chief Creative Officer, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
A new report from CNBC says Instagram recently reached a new milestone -- 2 billion monthly active users. It comes amid a year of controversy for the photo-sharing app and its parent company, Meta. SocialFlow CEO Jim Anderson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
A report from KPMG International found that global mergers and acquisitions in 2021 reached $5.1 trillion in transactions. Carol Streicher, U.S. deal advisory and strategy service group leader for KPMG, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about the record-breaking year and next year's outlook, which KPMG says could be even more staggering. "We're not seeing any slow down in '22," she said, regarding survey results of 350 business leaders. "Things that were tailwinds for us in M&A activity this past year are going to continue to be tailwinds for us in 2022."
MotorTrend named the Rivian R1T as the 2022 truck of the year - a prestigious title given by the publication as a way for automakers to tout third-party validation. Rivian beat out traditional, legacy truck favorites like Ford and General Motors.
MotorTrend said the company earned high marks for safety, efficiency, value, advanced design, engineering excellence, and performance of intended function. MotorTend head of editorial Ed Loh joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
There is a new way for investors to bet on cannabis - the AdvisorShares Poseidon Dynamic Cannabis ETF targets about 20 of the biggest names in U.S. cannabis. It comes at a time when it's still difficult for investors to access the space. Cheddar News cannabis reporter Chloe Aiello spoke with co-founder and managing director for Poseidon Investment Management, Emily Paxhia.
Danvas is a new company that aims to bring NFTs and digital artwork into the real world through an interactive, museum-quality display. The company says its product is the first premium, luxury digital art canvas, which it hopes will accelerate the world's appreciation of digital artists and their work, and empower collectors to acquire more NFT art. Danvas also just announced its launch this week, with a $7 million seed round from some big-name backers. Danvas co-founder and CEO Jeanne Anderson joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
LaFawn Davis, SVP of ESG at Indeed, joins Cheddar Wellness to break down why empathy is so important in the workplace, how to improve empathetic skills at work, and what the future of empathy looks like in the workplace.
Actor, pastor, and now author Kel Mitchell joined Cheddar's 'Between Bells' to talk about his new book 'Blessed Mode: 90 Days to Level Up Your Faith' and what inspired him to write it. Mitchell said the book aims to help people boost their physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Ordained as a pastor in 2019, he talked about his service in the church. He also talked about what it was like working with former castmates on Nickelodeon's 'All That' reboot.
