On April 28, the city opened a long-term freeze depot on the Brooklyn pier, with a capacity of at least 1,500 bodies. (The city refused to provide an accurate capacity).
“That was a real game changer,” said Jenna Mandel-Ricci, co-author of a Greater New York Hospital Association report on fatality management that documented the lessons learned from the crisis. “I hope it is not necessary, but knowing that it is there and knowing that it is part of the structure that was built is incredibly comforting.”
At the height of the crisis, federal disaster officials and the New York National Guard helped process and store thousands of bodies in Disaster Morgue 4, as the marine terminal was called. At the end of May, the pier contained a total of 2,137 bodies – 1,468 in long-term storage and 669 in refrigerated trailers, the medical examiner said.
As of December 4, the city’s marine terminal facilities still held 529 bodies in long-term storage and 40 in refrigerated trailers. (The Wall Street Journal reported for the first time that the bodies were still being held on the premises.)
The city has no time limit for the body to remain there, as long as there are ongoing discussions with the family for the final rest. The service is free, said Dr. Sampson.
She said those kept in long-term storage there in December were a mix of Covid-19 and non-Covid fatalities, which have continued to arrive at the terminal since May. The website, she said, is easing the pressure on her office’s regular morgues, which may contain 900 bodies, and also provides a central location for funeral directors to recover the remains.
The burials on Hart Island did not stop, however: this year, 2,225 adults were buried in the town’s cemetery, mostly in decades, according to the city’s Department of Correction. Now, the burials take place either at the request of the family or because the bodies remained unidentified or claimed after an investigation of about two months, the coroner said.