Saturday, April 11, 2020

People dead from coronavirus brought to Hart's Island for mass burial



Untapped Cities  

Until the coronavirus pandemic, Hart Island was one of the New York City’s most forgotten places. Yet, since 1869 it has been serving as the city’s potters field, an active burial place for those who are too poor to afford a burial or who die unclaimed. Today, around a million souls are lying in rest there and that number is increasing quickly. A lot of confusion has circled around Hart Island in the past few days, but what is known is that the pace of burials is increasing there — five times the normal rate, in fact. Burials have traditionally been performed by New York City Department of Corrections detainees, a practice that began over a century ago and was still in place until the pandemic. But now, contracted laborers are doing the burials.Officially, COVID-19 patients are not being buried on 

Hart Island but that only counts confirmed cases. With a marked increase in deaths at home, and the slow ramp-up of testing availability, it is believed that COVID-19 cases are being grossly undercounted here. New York City mayoral spokesperson, Freddi Goldestein, did make a statement addressing the likelihood that COVID-19 victims are buried there, saying, “For decades, Hart Island has been used to lay to rest decedents who have not been claimed by family members. We will continue using the Island in that fashion during this crisis and it is likely that people who have passed away from COVID-19 who fit this description will be buried on the Island in the coming days.”

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why dont they just cremate them? I dont understand

Anonymous said...

No shit, and a quite a bit late.
Perhaps the mayors office and the UPI had an embargo on reporting this until deBlasio spoke first.
Somebody here on Queens Crap with actual eyes & boots on the ground confirmed sightings of mass burials on Hart Island last Monday

Anonymous said...

Good reason why,no one claimed them,then they treat it like all else trash

JQ LLC said...

That's correct anon 2. It was the post on what Rikers prisoners were getting paid to bury them.

Social media made this story impossible to avoid and obfuscate from. That's why a lot of attention is now being focused on the Blaz and Cuomo arguing about the schools instead of this.

Anonymous said...

There could be 1000s trundled away on Hart Island and no one knows outside of those persistent whispered rumors circulating around the city.

Schools? Glad you brought that up. Why doesn't the media tell that governor to send his kids to school if he thinks its a great idea?

Cuomo and DeBlaz debate is worse than Trump and Biden debate - if that is possible - and with those two ... it is possible.

Anonymous said...

Why dont they just cremate them? I dont understand
------------------------------------------------------
Many of these people were overweight and in bad health. It takes up to 2 hours and longer then 3 hours (and special handling)if overweight or bio-hazard. Add not enough crematoriums to handle 1000s per day to start with.
They make have to make burning pits on Hart Island.

Anonymous said...

SCAM: deBlasio, Parks dept and the media are fulla shit !!!
The Rikers crews who know how to do this work and been doing it for 50 years got screwed out of it by special interest rackateering.
I spoke with some folks in private today on City Island as several large men watched us in a menacing manor.

The contractor is Pizzirusso Bros Construction in Brooklyn.
Labor by Queens-based Local 731 in a sealed cost to taxpayers that will not be disclosed to the public.

Hell of a sweet deal, hazard AND overtime pay at full union rates.

Anonymous said...

https://nypost.com/2014/03/09/landscape-contractor-defrauds-city-for-tree-planting-workers/

Anonymous said...

A lot of Soanish Flu bodies are buried there.

Anonymous said...

A lot of Soanish Flu bodies are buried there.
SPANISH Flu

Anonymous said...

How the fuck can the city award Pizzirusso and Local 731 another contract when he already duped the city for 12 million $$ on a tree deal?
Why is this huge blunder and royal screwing of the Rikers crews not in the news?

https://nypost.com/2014/03/09/landscape-contractor-defrauds-city-for-tree-planting-workers/