In early April, New York City's Council Health Committee chair Mark Levine generated buzz after tweeting that the city was considering temporary burials in local parks for victims of COVID-19. News outlets and social media users eagerly circulated his tweets, which seemed to be an ominous sign of the disease's toll.
Although city officials assured residents that such temporary burials had not yet taken place, aerial footage of workers in protective gear interring bodies on Hart Island, the city's "potter's field," seemed to confirm that the epidemic was overwhelming both our health care and our death care industries.
For people who expect a "proper" send-off when they die, the images were shocking, but for thousands of poor Americans, the prospect of burial in such a grave is a growing reality. It also is nothing new.
Cost of dying Rich and fulfilling death Permanently parked
