A bit of reason from Elizabeth Nolan Brown writing at Reason:
No, NYC Is Not Running Out of Burial Space Due to COVID-19
Century-and-a-half-old Bronx burial site sparks panic on social media. The COVID-19 death toll in New York City right now is chilling (more than 4,400 at last count). So are images of coffins being buried in mass graves. It's hard to see things like that and not feel the weight of those numbers all the more viscerally—which makes it all the more imperative to contextualize and not sensationalize those images.
Unfortunately, a lot of professional media has been erring on the side of LOOK AT WHAT AMERICA HAS COME TO: THERE ARE SO MANY DEAD BODIES THEY HAVE TO START HIRING PEOPLE TO DIG MASS GRAVES.
The city cemetery on Hart Island is indeed tragic. It has been for the past 151 years.
"Since 1869, prison labor has been used to bury unclaimed and unidentified New Yorkers in mass graves of 150 adults or 1000 infants," states the Hart Island Project website. Families of those buried there were only allowed to start visiting in 2014.
"Since 1980, 68,955 people have been buried in mass graves on Hart Island," notes the Project, which is dedicated to telling stories of those laid to rest there.
Yeah - people are being buried there. For this simple explanation that there was nobody to claim the body - that is all. Tragic but it happens all the time.
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