Covid-19 Epidemic Illustrates How Many People Die Totally Alone in the USA.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

It was stunning to see on the evening news how many people who have died of the CoronaVirus-19 in New York go unclaimed. Their bodies have filled up the morgues to the point where they are now being buried in mass graves on an island near New York City's Bronx borough.

An island that already contains over 1 millionunclaimed bodies of New Yorkers.

The coronavirus pandemic is killing hundreds of people in New York City each day.

To accommodate the dead before families claim them, the city's medical examiner expanded temporary refrigerated storage to hold 3,600 decedents, up from the usual 900. Families have 30 days to claim their loved one.

However, a policy change posted to the medical examiner's website suggests that room is running out: Bodies that families don't claim within 14 days of death will be catalogued and interred in a mass grave site on a Bronx island.

Today, OCME's website said decedents who are not claimed by a funeral home within two weeks, would be sent to the Bronx's Hart Island, where a graveyard called "City Cemetery" contains more than 1 million unclaimed bodies — the largest such site in the US.

Source Article w/Photo of Covid-19 Mass Burial site: www.businessinsider.com...

It has been stated repeatedly that this Covid-19 virus does not discriminate. So it's not like these are mostly homeless people dying. These are new York City residents from all walks of life and income levels. How can so many of them go "unclaimed" after they die?

Since this is just one city (albeit a huge one), is it reasonable to assume that millions of Americans probably die totally alone like this every year?

-CareWeMust

originally posted by: carewemust

Since this is just one city (albeit a huge one), is it reasonable to assume that millions of Americans probably die totally alone like this every year?

Not unreasonable at all.

Not everyone has children and many more have no living relatives to speak of.

I'm going to end up dying alone and I've just kind of accepted that.

I hope to have my affairs settled so I'm not too much of a burden after I die.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

As long as you're alive, you could get married...and not die alone.

That is so sad. I had no idea. That really is a staggering number of people all alone. Yeah, I agree that there are so many millions more who die alone. It’s horrible.

a reply to: carewemust

I'm married but I'm pretty positive I'm going to outlive him.

I'm hoping it will be one of those "within minutes of each other" kind of deaths.

a reply to: carewemust

It's even worse than that, my man. They are often totally alone before they die. Maybe this cluster will at least shine a light on that? I hope so.

The end of their sorrows.

Now they can rest in peace

a reply to: carewemust

OK, what is the solution to your problem? There is no solution. Life is unfair. What are you going to do to solve this problem? Can the government solve that? Well can they?

Maybe mandatory loneliness taxation?

WTF is the point of this?

This OP really annoys me. It really does. It pretends there is a solution just by the sad fact of an ever present problem when there just isn't a solution.

Please get a grip.

I feel for those lost.

But I had to read, reread and click the link in order to undertand that the OP's highlighted 1 million numbers was NOT part of the covid19 outbreak.

Seems like more fear mongering to me.

How f'ing shameful. To the casual headline skimmer, it only seems to be a headline meant to instill more fear.

It can be sad, yes. Like ozzy says though, the sadder part is the whole being alone before that.

In my mind, if I die alone it will be because Ive outlived my parents. Im really aiming for that, actually, but I sure dont want it to be any time soon either.

Philosophically, I suppose we all face that final journey alone. All the same, I always spend a bit of time each night thinking about anyone truly alone. Im not under the illusion it does anything, but it still feels like the right thing for me to do.

People in that bad of shape are not aware of anyone being there in the final hours. Before that though, like days before yes. It does indeed suck. I lost my father in NOV and he totally understood me and heard me days before passing. I told him about the score of a major game he wanted to watch and he slightly lifted his hand when I told him his team kicked ass and won.

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: carewemust

OK, what is the solution to your problem? There is no solution. Life is unfair. What are you going to do to solve this problem? Can the government solve that? Well can they?

Maybe mandatory loneliness taxation?

WTF is the point of this?

This OP really annoys me. It really does. It pretends there is a solution just by the sad fact of an ever present problem when there just isn't a solution.

Please get a grip.

Good God, you're telling the OP to get a grip? "Human interest" story, something to think about, perspectove, and you come in here like a cat lady who can't find cat #137. Wow.

a reply to: dogstar23

How so? Explain yourself.

Well, there are going to be even more people dying alone now that so many have become hyperaware of how disease ridden we all are. Some people will just hide themselves away to avoid contact.

Anyway, what do I need with a lot of people hanging around when I'm wheezing my last breath and crapping myself? Just stop bugging me.

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: dogstar23

How so? Explain yourself.

The OP wasn't an appeal for people to go an comfort those who are alone, or to provide government-issued families. For me - it was a reminder of those people on the outskirts of my extended family who have long since lost those close to them - the ones who linked them closer to the rest of the family.

Look, some people like being alone, and that's fine, but most want to at least have links to someone. Your response was as if you were lashing out at some kind of attack by the OP. You're welcome to your opinion, it just struck me that someone would be that bothered, rather than simply not caring.

They might have families - the family may not be able to afford a funeral, so they just don't claim the body.
Even simple cremations are super expensive.

Oh and dying alone, it's not as bad as it sounds. Almost happened to me when I had H1N1. There was actually an outbreak during the 2012/2013 flu season and at the time I had it, the CDC sent out a notice warning hospitals that this could be a very dangerous version of H1N1. Strangely, there was absolutely no major news media stories about it. But my the nurses knew and spent very little time in my room. I only have a few relatives and they were sick so I didn't have visitors.

I had a lot of lousy things happen to me in my life and dying alone wasn't one of them. It was very calm and I wasn't scared at all.

Being alone is a fear many people have especially woman. I've seen woman do and put up with just plain horrible behavior just so they will be with someone. That good meaning poster who said "there's always a chance for you to marry", doesn't understand the harm of their comments. There's worse things than being alone.

There are far too many factors that create a situation where someone dies alone for me to have a feeling towards it. In some cases, sure, it’s definitely sad. Other cases, it could very well have been that person’s way of life that caused them to be alone in their last days.

My best friend has no family left. He’s 40 and my wife and I are the closest people to him. His mother died of brain cancer, his stepfather died of lung cancer, his father of heart failure and he wasn’t re-married. His stepsister is a junkie who created a massive rift between them after their mother died and she stole all their mother’s personal effects to pawn for drugs. There’s a good chance my wife and I will outlive him due to his lifestyle, so we’ll be there for him, but if something happens to us before that time, he will surely die alone. He certainly brings it up enough that he’s going to create that reality for himself.

Conversely, someone found guilty of molesting children and is outcast from their family. I’ve got zero pity for them if the bed they made causes them to die alone.

Being that there are millions of stories out there, different factors and variables leading to the end, I can’t say I can reserve a lot of emotion regarding it.

originally posted by: ChiefD
That is so sad. I had no idea. That really is a staggering number of people all alone. Yeah, I agree that there are so many millions more who die alone. It’s horrible.

I think some people prefer to live as a recluse. That's OK, But it doesn't eliminate the need for them to have proper burial arrangements made in advance.

originally posted by: GENERAL EYES
a reply to: carewemust

I'm married but I'm pretty positive I'm going to outlive him.

I'm hoping it will be one of those "within minutes of each other" kind of deaths.

It's good to see you're married. As we see played out every day (even before Covid-19), it's possible your husband could outlive you. Make sure he's prepared, in case that occurs.

originally posted by: 0zzymand0s
a reply to: carewemust

It's even worse than that, my man. They are often totally alone before they die. Maybe this cluster will at least shine a light on that? I hope so.

That's the point I wanted to make. Nobody claiming the body, implied that they died without any relatives, friends, or pre-arranged burial plan.