Derek Kravitz
The city’s potter’s field, the final resting place for thousands killed by COVID and AIDS, is now overseen by the Parks Department amid visions of creating the nation’s largest municipal cemetery. But a $33M contract to a firm without cemetery experience, under the watch of an ex-Rikers captain, is raising concerns.
Scientists studying coronavirus in local wastewater say that city environmental officials initially had “zero willingness to help explore this potential public health risk.” Officials stress that the findings are preliminary.
About 750 New Yorkers taken by the pandemic await possible burial on Hart Island, the city’s potter’s field. City officials, though, say there’s no timetable to transport the fallen from refrigerated units in Sunset Park.
Fewer than 5% of city residents felled by coronavirus have been publicly memorialized via obituaries or news accounts. Work with us to change that.