For the first time since 9/11, NYC has set up makeshift morgues.
Refrigerated trailers to be used as makeshift morgues hummed outside two hospitals on Thursday as New York City deals with the surging death count in the epicenter of the nation's coronavirus pandemic.
The last time New York took such drastic measures was after the terrorist New York News attacks of September 11, 2001, when the city medical examiner's office was tasked with identifying tens of thousands of body parts from the 2,753 people killed in the World Trade Center collapse.
The makeshift morgues signal the historic challenge posed by the national health crisis.
At least 281 people have died from Covid-19 across the city, Mayor Bill De Blasio said Thursday. There are 21,873 confirmed cases of the virus.
New York state, where 385 people have died from the virus, has more than 37,000 of the nation's more than 80,000 coronavirus cases.
The US death toll from coronavirus has topped 1,100.
At least 13 patients had died from Covid-19 over a 24-hour period this week at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens -- where the medical examiner's office stationed a refrigerated trailer, according to agency spokeswoman Aja Worthy-Davis.
Another four deaths were reported at the hospital in the last 24 hours, said Mitch Katz, president and chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest municipal health system in the country.
Trailers and Press Release Distribution Services In New York white tents were also set up outside New York Bellevue Hospital Center, which is adjacent to the medical examiner's building.
Davis noted the refrigerated trucks are not specifically for coronavirus cases. They're intended to help alleviate the morgue space at hospitals if needed. The trailers will be used if the hospital morgues reach capacity.
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