NYC temporary morgue lingers, a reminder of pandemic's pain

A temporary morgue that was set up in New York City at the height of its coronavirus crisis in April 2020 is still in use today

NEW YORK -- On a sun-soaked morning last month, a dozen mourners gathered by a freshly dug grave to bury four people who were cast into limbo as New York City contended with COVID-19. Each was among hundreds of people whose bodies have lingered in a temporary morgue that was set up at the height of the city's coronavirus crisis last year and where about 200 bodies remain, not all of them virus victims. The fenced-off temporary morgue on a pier in an industrial part of Brooklyn is out of sight and mind for many as the city celebrates its pandemic progress by dropping restrictions and even setting off fireworks. But the facility — which the city plans to close by the end of the summer — stands as a reminder of the loss, upheaval and wrenching choices the virus inflicted in one of its deadliest U.S. hotspots. James Brown, George Davis, Diane Quince and Charles Varga died of various causes between three and nine months before their mid-June burial in Staten Island’s airy Ocean View Cemetery. Officials found no next of kin.