"New York City has erected a makeshift morgue outside a hospital to handle the expected rise in deaths due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) confirmed to Newsweek that the refrigerated tents outside Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan were built as part of contingency plans in case the city's permanent morgues reach capacity.
Aja Worthy-Davis, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, said in a statement, "We're in a public health crisis, and the city has declared a state of emergency. As part of that declaration, agencies like OCME have enacted emergency contingency plans to help prepare for every possible outcome."
New York City's morgues can accommodate between 800 and 900 bodies at a time, but they aren't close to reaching capacity yet, Worthy-Davis told the New York Daily News reported. But officials are preparing for the death toll in the city, which has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., to continue rising. The tents and trucks outside Bellevue Hospital can accommodate up to 3,600 bodies, Worthy-Davis added."
newsweek.com/nyc-erects-temporary-morgue-handle-rise-coronavirus-deaths-1494423