Hundreds of bodies still stored in trucks at Brooklyn pier a year after coronavirus death peak

(Courtney Pedroza/Getty Images)

By Curtis Brodner

(NEW YORK) The bodies of about 750 coronavirus victims are still being stored in refrigerated trucks at Brooklyn’s 39th Street pier over a year after a wave of mass death forced the city’s morgues and funeral homes to resort to overflow storage.

Authorities have not disclosed a timetable for moving these bodies will be transported for burial or cremation, The City reported.

Coronavirus deaths were highest in mid-March of last year, when between 700 and 800 New Yorkers were dying every day, according to statistics from the NYC Department of Health.

By April of 2020, the city brought in trucks to manage the massive number of corpses that were overwhelming traditional body storage facilities.

Most of the bodies will be transferred to Hart Island, the burial ground for New Yorkers who lack the funds for a private burial. Many of the bereaved families of those currently held in cold storage said they prefer their loved ones be moved there immediately, but the city has not been responsive to their requests.

Hart Island took on 2,666 burials in 2020 — more than double the usual number. The backlog at the island could explain the delay in moving the corpses from the pier.

Others attributed the delay to the Department of Correction, which controls Hart Island. Recently, the Department of Parks and recreation has been jockeying for stewardship of the island.

“Why do we have these temporary storage facilities?” City Councilmember Mark Gjonaj, a Democrat whose district includes Hart Island, asked The City. “If there is capacity and those families have already expressed the willingness to have their loved ones buried in a public burial at Hart Island, why are we delaying that any longer than we have to?”

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