This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
At the height of the pandemic, New York City was experiencing a surge of coronavirus cases that pushed hospitals to the brink. The city's morgues were overwhelmed with bodies, with some facilities reaching capacities of over 200 bodies.
Two students, Devin Speak and Mariel Sander, were hired as mortuary workers at two different hospitals in New York City. They were tasked with handling the bodies of those who had died from COVID-19, and they documented their experiences in photographs and journal entries.
Speak, an amateur photographer and former Coast Guard member, described the scene at the morgue as 'a nightmare.' 'This is truck No. 1, and this truck is a nightmare,' he said. 'We try our best to make sure that no bodies go in there. Unfortunately, we're often at the last resort.'
Sander, a senior at Columbia University, described the experience as 'grim' and 'horrific.' 'All the other techs had been there, at most, like a week,' she said. 'This is a job that pretty much none of us would choose to do in a normal situation.'
Despite the challenging conditions, the students reported that their colleagues were doing everything they could to protect the humanity of those who had died. 'Nothing about it is ideal,' Speak said. 'These people are dying alone, and we're, in a weird way, the stand-in for relatives.'
The students' experiences were documented in photographs and journal entries, providing a unique perspective on the pandemic. 'These were the first couple photos that I took,' Speak said. 'These are my colleagues here, and this is right in front of the morgue. We're getting ready to go in.'
As the pandemic continued to surge, the city's morgues became increasingly overwhelmed. The backlog of bodies grew so dire that city officials eventually set up emergency mass morgues to take over for the hospitals and their temporary workers.
Published on May 19, 2020, at 9:41 PM.
