With the rising death toll in New York City due to the coronavirus, hospitals and morgues have now become overwhelmed. The city has purchased 45 cooler trucks in order to manage the number of bodies.
The cooler trucks can hold as many as 44 bodies along with the addition of refrigerated tents. Aja Worthy-Davis, a spokeswoman for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, said the city’s five morgues have a capacity of 800 to 900 but stated the cooler trucks are placed near hospitals as preparation for a “worst-case scenario.”
“We’re putting them out near major hospitals as a precautionary measure to prepare for the worst-case scenario. We very much hope we don’t need them.”
Officials have also sent out a “Mass Fatality Management” plan to specify the trailer’s needs such as each cooler should be at a temperature of 37 degrees.
It also detailed in a report where hospitals are instructed on how to store the patient’s remains and a list of guidelines by funeral directors and relatives before the bodies are released for burial. Unfortunately, funeral services in New York have been canceled or limited due to the COVID-19 spread and only immediate family members are allowed private services, limiting to only 10 people.
