Bodies Buried in New York City Trench Increase Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

CORONAVIRUS: As New York City deals with a mounting COVID-19 death toll and dwindling morgue space, the city has shortened the amount of time it will hold unclaimed remains before they are buried in the city’s public cemetery. Under the new policy, the medical examiner’s office will keep bodies in storage for 14 days before they’re buried in the city’s potter’s field on Hart Island. Normally, about 25 bodies a week are interred on the island, mostly for people whose families can’t afford a funeral, or wh