US: NYC Dead Stay in Freezer Trucks Set up Amid COVID-19 Surge

A new report revealed that over 600 bodies of people who died from COVID-19 during the spring of this year in New York City have yet to be buried and remain stored inside freezing vehicles.

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The NYC Medical Examiner's Office informed The Wall Street Journal that many of the bodies are of people whose families could not be located or could not cover the costs of the burial. 

NYC increased its burial assistance costs to $1,700 from $900 in May, according to the New York State Funeral Directors Association (NYSFDA). 

The average price of a traditional burial service in New York costs US$9,000. A typical cremation service costs about US$6,500, the NYSFDA informs.

About 650 bodies are still stored in white freezer trucks parked in Brooklyn's waterfront. These makeshift morgues were set up between May and April as coronavirus cases and deaths increased in the city.

"NYC Body Identification Unit can handle about 20 deaths a day, but during the peak of the pandemic it received up to 200 bodies a day," NY Deputy Director of Forensics Aden Naka explained.

According to U.S. health authorities, In the last 12 days, more coronavirus cases have been reported in the country than in any full month of the pandemic. From November 12 through November 22, there were 1,978,287 new COVID-19 cases.