According to National Geographic, an estimated one million people are buried throughout the island. The first burial was that of 24-year-old Louisa Van Slyke in 1869. She died of tuberculosis and had no known family.
In addition to tuberculosis, the city also had an outbreak of yellow fever in the 19th century (per The Washington Post). Thus, the island was used for quarantining those inflicted with the disease. In 1918, the island served as a burial ground for victims of the Spanish Flu (via CNN). In the 1980s, AIDS victims were buried there as there was little known about the disease, and funeral homes refused to serve them. Per The New York Times, Hart Island might actually be the largest burial ground for AIDS victims.
How does the city not run out of burial space? Simple; the graves are reused. Beginning in the 1930s, the graves were recycled. This is completely legal as long as the body is decomposed to skeletal remains. In other words, those early 19th century burials caused by diseases that have been mostly eradicated, perhaps share a grave with the victims of COVID-19.
Up until 2020, incarcerated people were the ones who buried the dead (via NPR). Moreover, the cemetery was closed to the public until 2015, when NYC'S Department of Correction began providing regular monthly visits. As of now, no one knows exactly how many people that have died due to the COVID-19 pandemic are buried there.
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