NYC Hospitals Turn Refrigerated Trucks Into Temporary Morgues Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Eighty-five refrigerated trucks have been deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to New York City to be used as temporary morgues. These trucks are where hospitals will place the overflow of bodies amid the coronavirus pandemic reports Fox News.

“We are sending refrigeration trucks to New York to help with some of the problem on a temporary basis,” FEMA regional direction Thomas Von Essen said at a press briefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio.

According to NY's Medical Examiner’s Office (OCME), the additional truck space could double the capacity of city morgues – raising it from 3,500 bodies to 7,000 bodies.

Dear ⁦@NYGovCuomo, NY made it through 9/11…NY can make it through this. Prayers your way.😔—⁩ NYC hospitals using refrigerated trucks as temporary morgueshttps://t.co/FZB2TM4M61

— Pamela Jean Halterman Campbell Price (@mikepamelap) March 31, 2020

New York has reported an over 11 percent increase in patients who tested positive for the virus. Fox News reported that trolleys lined the sidewalks of hospitals as “health care workers rolled the bodies of coronavirus victims out onto the street before loading them into the back of the refrigerated trucks.”

According to a spokeswoman for Lenox Hill Greenwich Village Hospital, the city's hospital systems are “actively preparing for a surge in COVID-19-related hospitalizations.” The spokesperson said that OCME and the NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) offered refrigerated truck trailers to all of NYC hospitals. The trailers are positioned at most of the hospitals throughout the city.

She added that it is unclear how long the trailers will be needed as the crisis persists.

“Northwell Health hospitals have plans in place to handle a surge in patient volume and can increase our patient capacity by 60 percent if needed,” she added. “We are confident in our ability to meet this challenge. At this time we are not planning on setting up field hospitals.”