- This week in New York we're
going to continue to see some pretty brutal death
tolls from the coronavirus. Probably over 800 deaths a
day just from the virus alone. And obviously there's
evidence that the death toll is likely higher than
what's being reported. Over in California,
where my funeral home is, we are starting to get our
first coronavirus cases but we're not overwhelmed with dead bodies because the draconian lockdown measures that were put in place
there seem to be working. My job is to study how the dead body is treated in American culture. In times like this pandemic,
our relationship with death has moved from our subconscious mind, the fear that's hiding
just under the surface, up to our conscious mind. When bodies are piling up we can't ignore their reality anymore. Not only the reality of
dying but the reality of the physical, decaying, organic matter that's left behind. Because I am not smack in
the middle of the pandemic in New York, some of
what I'm gonna say today may be a little armchair quarterback, a little backseat driver,
but the funeral directors in New York City don't have
time to talk to you right now. They're busy. What I'd like to do here is
simultaneously comfort you and make you angry. I'm not trying to scare
you because there's more than enough people profiting
from fear right now. First of all, unfortunately,
pandemics are inevitable. So somebody needs to tell the media, and their evil twin, the social media, that preparation for
pandemics is a good thing. Case in point, refrigerated trucks. Refrigerated trucks are good. Handled properly they
just toot on into town and keep those extra bodies cool, safe, and distant from the population. Reporting on the trucks,
the media is acting like they've caught the government
in a vile conspiracy. They're just forklifting
bodies into trucks. Yes, and that's also
what's done day-to-day at a normal crematory. It's done in an orderly
fashion but industrial raising and lowering
devices, pick the body up form the van or the hearse,
into the refrigerated storage and then into the cremation machine. It's possible the funeral industry is more industrialized than you thought. But without giving people that
context you're scaring them. You're taking normal mass-death strategy and turning it into dystopian horror. I think we need to have the same attitude toward stories like the one from Spain about ice rinks being used to
preserve these dead bodies. Remember when the curling rink was used for bodies after the Titanic? Sometimes there are buildings,
big ones with a block of ice on them that are ideal
for storing dead bodies. That we need to use them at all indicates that many people are dying. Which is terrifying, but
we already know that. We know that intellectually. So the fact that the reports
themselves are so salacious indicates not only a fear of dying but I think of the dead and dead bodies. There as another photo from Spain of all these coffins
waiting to be cremated, described as chilling. But as a funeral director
when I look at that photo I also think chilling, but
the different definition, Like, chillin', they are chilling. They are neat, they are
orderly, they are labeled, they are waiting to be cremated. Then there was this tweet from the New York City
Councilman that said, "Soon, we'll start temporary interment. "This will likely be done by using "a New York City park for burials. "Yes, you read that right. "Trenches will be dug for
10 caskets in a line." Which in the hands of the
masses quickly turned into, time to start digging trenches
for graves in Central Park. Turns out he was talking
about a deep, multilevel, contingency plan for disaster management. Something that we anticipate
we're never going to get to. Even if it does come to
that, there is a plan to temporarily bury people on Hart Island, which is a cemetery, not a park. It's traditionally been used for the homeless or unclaimed dead. And it wouldn't be dumped into a pit it would be carefully labeled, ordered, temporary grave, something that has a long precedence in disaster management. Even when the governor, the
mayor, the medical examiner, were all like, wait,
what, bodies in parks, who is this man, what is he talking about, I don't know this man, sorry to this man. - I don't know who this man is. I mean he could be
walking down the street, I wouldn't know a thing. Sorry to this man. - All these headlines still said, "Coronavirus bodies to
be buried in parks." (static crackles) ♪ How did I know that
I would be back here? ♪ Woke up the morning after I filmed this to the BBC, CNN, New York Times, leading with front-page drone footage of burial trenches being
dug on Hart Island. Totally out of context. Those type of trench
burials for the indigent and unclaimed dead have
been happening there for over 100 years. Yes, there are more because of coronavirus because, yeah, a pandemic,
there are more bodies. But it is irresponsible
to use those images as if any American could end up in a mass-burial trench at any moment. #TrumpBurialPits is trending. And now it sounds like
I'm defending Trump, don't know how we got here. If it makes you uncomfortable to learn how the indigent and unclaimed are treated in the United States, yes, welcome, please
learn as much as you can but do not propagate or share
those images without context. Okay, back to the video. (static crackles) This is all to say, let's not let normal, disaster responses terrify us. That being said, there are two issues with the New York City disaster response that I can see right now and
more may emerge in hindsight but they mainly have
to do with regulations that are hurting funeral directors
ability to do their jobs. First of all, why is it
the sole responsibility of private businesses, like funeral homes and crematories to manage the dead? My contacts have told me, off the record, that these refrigerated
trucks being brought in are being used at morgues and hospitals. Once the funeral homes pick them up all bets are off and they're
responsible for the storage. Funeral homes do not have that much additional refrigerated
storage on their site. We were literally talking
about this in the last video. There's not enough refrigerated storage for the indigent and homeless dead. There's definitely not
enough refrigerated storage for surprise, some pandemic dead. My concern, is that without
enough refrigeration, funeral homes could turn
to embalming bodies. Now again, there is no
proof yet or science yet that says the coronavirus body
is dangerous to the living, but that science may emerge later. And for now, the World Health Organization basically recommends
you do not embalm bodies because you're puncturing
and aspirating the body. So without enough personal
protective equipment, it could even possibly be
dangerous for embalmers. Second, is the issue of crematories running 24 hours a day, seven days a week and still being backed
up by over two weeks. Let me tell you a little story about economic protectionism in the New York death-care industry. New York is one of only five states that requires crematories
to be owned by cemeteries. You cannot build a crematory unless there is a cemetery to build one. This is bonkers to me
coming from California where crematories tend
to be big, independent, freestanding warehouses. Adding to that, any
cemetery in New York City tends to be surrounded
by residential areas. And people don't want
crematories being built in their back yards. In a normal year, not
adding any new crematories, actually benefits the funeral industry because it keeps costs high. Because there's no competition, because no new crematories can be built. I'm frantically texting
my colleague, Tonya Marsh, because she always has the stats. Turns out, New York cremates more bodies per individual crematory than any state in the United States, by far. In New York, the average crematory handles three and a half times the national average
of deaths per crematory because they're forced to that capacity. New York didn't have enough crematories in a normal year, forget
during a pandemic. New York City funeral
directors were routinely sending bodies out of state to be cremated before this even began. So you have this perfect
storm of mass death and the most restrictive
laws around crematories in the entire country. This is not to scare you, we are absolutely going
to get through this. But it is something to be aware of and possibly change in the future. Here's my promise. I will keep making this
face at the reporting and I hope that you continue
to fight misinformation that you may see on your timeline or from your friends and
family, when you can. It is already tragic enough
that people are dying and their family is not
able to be there with them. We don't also need to stigmatize and demonize their dead bodies. The people in those trucks, they're someone's mother, husband, child. They're not diseased corpses. Stay safe, everyone, I am thinking about all of you right now, especially those of you
who have had a death from coronavirus or otherwise. And I hope to see you on
the other side of this. This video was made
with generous donations from death enthusiasts just like you. (light music) ♪ Phantom's head ♪
