The bodies of as many as 750 COVID-19 victims are still stored in refrigerated trucks in New York City

Sarah Al-Arshani | Publié le 10/05/2021 à 2h36

Freezer trucks were brought in to help store bodies at a time when over 800 deaths were recorded in a single day at the height of the pandemic.

• Freezer trucks were used as makeshift morgues in New York City during the height of the pandemic.
• 750 bodies are still being stored in those trucks, more than a year later, the City reported.
• The bodies could end up being buried on Hart Island.
• See more stories on Insider's business page .

The bodies of as many as 750 COVID-19 victims are still being stored in refrigerated trucks in New York City, a year after the height of the pandemic in April 2020, the City reported.

The bodies are stored in a long-term temporary morgue at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

CNN reported that at the height of the pandemic last year, over 800 deaths were recorded in a single day, with an average of more than 500 a day the week of April 5.

The surge in COVID-19 deaths led to the use of freezer trucks as makeshift morgues outside of hospitals.

"Long-term storage was created at the height of the pandemic to ensure that families could lay their loved ones to rest as they see fit," Mark Desire, a spokesperson for the medical examiner's office, told the Associated Press. "With sensitivity and compassion, we continue to work with individual families on a case-by-case basis during their period of mourning."

Dina Maniotis, executive deputy commissioner with the medical examiner's office, said most of the bodies could end up on Hart Island , where for the past 100 years the city has buried those who were poor or unclaimed.

Maniotis said most families of

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Via PakApNews