PA Counties locked down

[Carson]

It's worth mentioning again. Every death from here on out will be coronavirus related. No one would have died otherwise.

Many of those with existing conditions who would have never had died this year, will be pushed over the brink and die because of Corona related issues. Our death rate is up, there is no consolation as to how one died.

[Walleye Hunter]

Many of those with existing conditions who would have never had died this year, will be pushed over the brink and die because of Corona related issues. Our death rate is up, there is no consolation as to how one died.

It sounds like this could cause a dip in the undertaking business when all is said and done.

[Carson]

It sounds like this could cause a dip in the undertaking business when all is said and done.

Right now the business is off the hook.

https://apnews.com/83d977484b8fcc3f68a863adc086c0f9

NEW YORK (AP) — Pat Marmo walked among 20 or so deceased in the basement of his Brooklyn funeral home, his protective mask pulled down so his pleas could be heard.

“Every person there, they’re not a body,” he said. “They’re a father, they’re a mother, they’re a grandmother. They’re not bodies. They’re people.”

Like many funeral homes in New York and around the globe, Marmo’s business is in crisis as he tries to meet surging demand amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed around 1,400 people in New York City alone, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. His two cellphones and the office line are ringing constantly. He’s apologizing to families at the start of every conversation for being unusually terse, and begging them to insist hospitals hold their dead loved ones as long as possible.

His company is equipped to handle 40 to 60 cases at a time, no problem. On Thursday morning, it was taking care of 185.

“This is a state of emergency,” he said. “We need help.”

Funeral directors are being squeezed on one side by inundated hospitals trying to offload bodies, and on the other by the fact that cemeteries and crematoriums are booked for a week at least, sometimes two.

Marmo let The Associated Press into his Daniel J. Schaefer funeral home in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn on Thursday to show how dire the situation has become.


WARNING: DISTURBING CONTENT++ Funeral homes in New York are in crisis as demand surges amid the coronavirus pandemic. Funeral Services NYC is equipped to handle 40-60 cases at a time but on Thursday, the roster numbered 185. (April 2)

He has about 20 embalmed bodies stored on gurneys and stacked on shelves in the basement and another dozen in his secondary chapel room, both chilled by air conditioners.

He estimated that more than 60% had died of the new coronavirus. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.

“It’s surreal,” he said.

Hospitals in New York have been using refrigerated trucks to store the dead, and Marmo is trying to find his own. One company quoted him a price of $6,000 per month, and others are refusing outright because they don’t want their equipment used for bodies.

Even if he gets a truck, he has nowhere obvious to put it. He’s wondering if the police station across the street might let him use its driveway.

He’s also hoping the Environmental Protection Agency will lift regulations that limit the hours crematoriums can operate. That would ease some of the backlog.

“I need somebody to help me,” he said. “Maybe if they send me refrigeration, or guide me in a way that I could set up a refrigerated trailer that I could keep, and I could supervise.”

COPING WITH THE OUTBREAK:

You’ve just lost your job? Here’s what you need to know
Patrick Kearns, a fourth-generation funeral director in Queens, said the industry has never experienced anything like this. His family was prepared on 9/11 for their business to be overrun, but with so many bodies lost amid the rubble, the rush never came.

He’s seeing it now. The Kearns’ business in Rego Park is just minutes from Elmhurst Hospital, a hot spot in the city, which itself has emerged as the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Through the first 15 days of March, the family’s four funeral homes held 15 services. In the second half of the month, they had 40.

Like Marmo, Kearns has converted a small chapel into a makeshift refrigerator with an air conditioner. Other funeral directors told The Associated Press this week they were prepared to take similar measures.

The surge in deaths is coming at a time when there are tight restrictions on gatherings, making saying goodbye a lonely process.

A family at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn this week leaned over a yellow chain serving as a cordon and tossed roses at the casket of a loved one. Another in Queens offered final goodbyes through the windows of their cars. At one cemetery in the Bronx, where visitors were barred entirely, a funeral director stood over the grave and took photos to send to mourners.

“The whole process, including the experience for the family during the funeral, is one of sort of isolation rather than the support,” said Bonnie Dixon, president of Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens.
One cemetery she worked with has locked its gates to family and friends. Only she and a priest were allowed at the site of a burial. She photographed the casket being lowered, hoping it could bring some closure to the family.

“We would be going crazy if it were one of our loved ones,” she said. “We’re bearers of bad news on top of a sad situation.”

Marmo said he’s hardly sleeping from the stress, worried he’ll forget a small but critical task, like removing someone’s ring before they’re sent for cremation.

He’s set to host a funeral Friday for a 36-year-old New York City subway driver who died last week helping riders evacuate a burning train. There will be a limited service in his main chapel, where he has 10 chairs, lined in two rows with 6 feet (2 meters) between each. The best he can do while respecting “social distancing” guidelines.

“The guy deserves a funeral down the Canyon of Heroes,” Marmo said, referring to a stretch of Broadway in lower Manhattan where ticker tape parades are traditionally held. “Is he going to get that? He’s not going to get that. And it’s horrible.”


___

[Walleye Hunter]

Maybe a mandate to cremate is in order.

[Roadking]

Guess I got that back hoe just in time... too soon?

[chewsAside]

Panic breeds panic .
Numbers can and will be miss used to push an agenda .
Freedoms curtailed now won't willing be returned later .
Would there be mass panic if auto makers couldn't produce enough cars to get everyone to work ?
What if America went on a burger binge and everyone couldn't get a big mac ?
Death is a fact of life . It's how you face it that matters .
Cause last I checked no one gets out of here alive .

[Delkal]

The reason for the "bodies are being stacked high" and there is no room in the morgue is because funerals are on hold (NYC and NJ banned them). Not because there are 10x more people dying all at once.

Here is a little math exercise to put things into perspective.

NYC has 8.6 million people and the US has 327 million So NYC has 2.6% of the US population.
In 2017 there were 2,813,503 deaths in the US (see link). So NYC normally has 74,000 deaths per year. Or 6,200 deaths per month.
The above article says 1,400 people died from coronavirus in NYC. If we assume they all died in one month and that number is added to the "normal" amount of deaths expected per month you get a death increase of 18% due to Covid. (6200+1400=7600, 1400/7600=18%)

While an 18% increase is significant its not the "bring out your dead" event they want you to believe. There are also some factors that will make this calculated increase even smaller. Are people from outside of NYC being brought in for care? Or how bad were the preexisting conditions of the people that died (how long did they have even without coronavirus).

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929

[abner13]

Maybe a mandate to cremate is in order.

Cemeteries are a gigantic waste of good real estate! Especially abandoned and neglected cemeteries. I've helped clear abandoned Veteran cemeteries. That's a real crime.

Small parishes often have their own cemeteries , but what happens when that parish folds up? The cemetery is often plowed under/over(?). Relatives , if any can be found often have to make a choice , pay to have casket replanted in another cemetery , or , , , ?

Cremation should be the law of the land.

[streaker69]

Cemeteries are a gigantic waste of good real estate! Especially abandoned and neglected cemeteries. I've helped clear abandoned Veteran cemeteries. That's a real crime.

Small parishes often have their own cemeteries , but what happens when that parish folds up? The cemetery is often plowed under/over(?). Relatives , if any can be found often have to make a choice , pay to have casket replanted in another cemetery , or , , , ?

Cremation should be the law of the land.

Interesting, what other demands do you have for the use of someone else's land? Maybe you should institute forced quartering of the homeless to while you're at it.

[bogey1]

Interesting, what other demands do you have for the use of someone else's land? Maybe you should institute forced quartering of the homeless to while you're at it.

It might be someone else's land, but what about the bodies that belong to other families?