Healthcare

NYC Official Says City Is Preparing To Dig ‘Trenches’ In A Park To Bury The Dead

Published

2 years ago

April 6, 2020

Staff Writer

Updated

The Chair of the New York City Council’s health committee Mark D. Levine said Monday that the city is overwhelmed by the number of deaths from the coronavirus and that they’re preparing to dig “trenches” in a city park to bury the dead.

He later clarified that “This tweet has gotten a lot of attention. So I want to clarify: the is a contingency NYC is preparing for BUT if the death rate drops enough it will not be necessary.”

During his Monday news conference, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he hadn’t heard about the plan. “I have heard a lot of wild rumors but I have not heard anything about the city burying people in parks,” he told reporters.

Read Levine’s Twitter thread below:

NYC’s “city morgue” is the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), which luckily is the best in the world.

But they are now dealing w/ the equivalent of an ongoing 9/11. And so are hospital morgues, funeral homes & cemeteries.

Every part of this system is now backed up. 2/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Grieving families report calling as many as half a dozen funeral homes and finding none that can handle their deceased loved ones.

Cemeteries are not able to handle the number of burial requests and are turning most down. 4/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

Early on in this crisis we were able to swab people who died at home, and thus got a coronavirus reading. But those days are long gone. We simply don't have the testing capacity for the large numbers dying at home. 6/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

And still the number of bodies continues to increase. The freezers at OCME facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn will soon be full. And then what? 8/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

The goal is to avoid scenes like those in Italy, where the military was forced to collect bodies from churches and even off the streets.

OCME is going to need much more staff to achieve that goal. 10/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

As New York City continues to appeal to the nation for help, we need to ask not just for doctors and nurses and respiratory therapists. We also need mortuary affairs staff. This is tough to talk about and maybe tough to ask for. But we have no choice. The stakes are too high. 12/

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

To recap: Nothing matters more in this crisis than saving the living. But we need to face the gruesome reality that we need more resources to manage our dead as well. Or the pain of this crisis will be compounded almost beyond comprehension. 13/13

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) April 6, 2020

As of Monday, the virus has killed 4,159 in the state. The number of daily deaths fell for the first time Sunday when 594 deaths were reported, compared to the previous day where there were 630 deaths.

“You could argue that you’re seeing a slight plateauing in the data, which obviously would be good news,” NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday, calling the promising data a potential “blip.”

The number of coronavirus patients in the hospitals and ICUs continues to climb. Moreover, the number of deaths in the city, alone, increased to 351 on Sunday.

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Healthcare

American and Southwest stand by vaccine mandate, despite Abbott’s ban

Published

2 months ago

October 13, 2021

Staff Writer

American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are still planning to comply with President Biden’s executive order regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. The order requires all their employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 8t. As a result, they will be ignoring Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on vaccine mandates.

Folks, vaccination requirements work. pic.twitter.com/XuBsOQxGaN
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 9, 2021

Abbott announced his own executive order, effectively banning mandates even from private employers, on Tuesday. “In another instance of federal overreach, the Biden Administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workforce disruptions that threaten Texas’ continued recovery from the COVID-19 disaster,” Abbott said. “The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and our best defense against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced.”

Yet both airlines are requiring their employees to be vaccinated by Nov. 24. This comes despite Southwest’s impromptu cancellation of over 2,000 flights over the weekend. At the time, the airline blamed the cancellations on air traffic control and weather conditions. However, SaraACarter.com was unable to verify that any other airline had to cancel near as many flights for the same reasons. This has left many to speculate that Southwest actually cancelled flights due to their employees walking out as a direct result of the mandate.

Just got passed this flyer from a Southwest employee #FreedomFlu pic.twitter.com/Q5gXGhxoma
— Handbrake Poso (@JackPosobiec) October 13, 2021

Reporter Jack Posobiec tweeted out a flyer circulating among the anti-vaxx Southwest employees. Currently, they are planning a protest outside of Southwest headquarters next Monday. The protest will be called “Freedom Not Force.”

Southwest told Reuters it “would be expected to comply with the President’s Order to remain compliant as a federal contractor.” In addition, American similarly said Abbott’s order does not change anything.

You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.