New York funeral homes are overwhelmed and funeral directors and families alike are going through it.
Right now funeral homes are at capacity due to the impact of COVID-19 and the amount of death of daily deaths in NY which is usually 425 a day has now risen to 600-700 a day. According to Mike Lanotte from The Funeral Directors Association, the morgue that city medial examiner maintains has a six day time limit for a family to arrange a funeral if not their loved on will be sent to Hart Island for a temporary burial.
Mr. Lanotte who appeared on Good Day NY this morning said that temporary refrigerated trucks are being looked at to handle the volume of bodies that they are seeing. "Right not the biggest enemy is time, think about the amount of deaths versus the 24 hours we have in a day. We’re just trying to keep up right now" he said.
When asked to provide some direction for families who might have a loved one pass away at home due to COVID-19, Mr. Lanotte said:
Contact your local funeral director, they will provide you the proper advice and guide you. They will help you immediately and advice on how you can have a celebration of life after this pandemic is over.
If families aren’t able to make arrangements for their loved ones to be taken by a mortuary within eight days of dying, the city begins the process of arranging its own burial according to a report in The Daily News. Under normal circumstances that typically happens when a family can’t afford a burial, but with funeral homes now inundated with those who’ve perished from COVID-19, it’s a prospect that many more may soon face.
The FDNY says it responded to 2,192 cases of deaths at home between March 20th and April 5th, or about 130 a day, an almost 400 percent increase from the same time period last year.
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