New York City Councilmember Mark Levine chair of the Health Committee, on Monday tweeted desperately: “And still the number of bodies continues to increase. The freezers at OCME (Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York) facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn will soon be full. And then what? Soon we’ll start “temporary interment”. This likely will be done by using a NYC park for burials (yes you read that right). Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line.”
Levine added: “It will be done in a dignified, orderly—and temporary—manner. But it will be tough for NYers to take.”
With 2,738 dead from the virus in NYC, and 68,776 cases of infection, Mayor Bill de Blasio told the press on Monday: “We may well be dealing with temporary burials so we can deal with each family later.”
In New York State, as of Monday afternoon, there are 130,689 coronavirus cases with 4,758 deaths. 72,181 cases are in New York City, where 4,504 people are in intensive care. There are 37,505 cases in New Jersey, with 1,003 deaths, and 5,675 cases in Connecticut, with 189 deaths.
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that the coronavirus pandemic may have reached its peak, based on two consecutive days of fewer daily new cases, ICU admissions, and connections to respirators. “Those are all good signs and would suggest a possible flattening of the curve,” the governor said.
The death toll from the coronavirus in Israel rose to 59 on Tuesday morning. The 58th dead was a man, 80, who suffered from background illnesses and had been on a respirator for a few weeks passed at Sharon Hospital. It was the ninth virus-related death since Monday morning.
The number of infected Israeli rose by 102 since Monday, to stand at 9,006, of whom 140 are in critical condition, with 109 on respirators.
The US saw 646 new cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning, with 72 new dead. 367,650 Americans have been infected and 10,943 died.
There have been 1,347,689 cases of the virus around the world, with 74,783 dead.