'This Is Real': Forklift Moves Body Near Coronavirus-Hit Hospital

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — The sight of a shrouded body being loaded by forklift into a truck outside a Brooklyn hospital left a man with only four words: "This is for real."

Facebook user John Lee on Sunday repeated those words over and over on a live video he posted Sunday. He shot it outside Brooklyn Hospital Center in Fort Greene — a hospital grappling with the new coronavirus outbreak.

The video shows hospital staff, all donning protective gear, standing around a forklift raising a body up and into an 18-wheeler trailer. Lee's hand shook as he filmed the grim scene and he expressed disbelief at what he saw.

"This is live from Brooklyn, New York," he said. "Brooklyn hospital — they're putting bodies in the back of a freezer truck."

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The video went live Sunday morning — 10:40 a.m., Lee said on the video — and quickly spread across the internet. The original video currently has 2.1 million views and countless others, including the New York Post, have reposted versions of it.

City and health officials have constructed makeshift morgues out of trailers to handle what they fear will be hundreds, if not thousands, of coronavirus deaths. There are signs at some hospitals, especially Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, that the outbreak is overwhelming stretching their resources and staff.

And they project the worst may be yet to come — the coronavirus outbreak is expected to peak on April 14 when hospitals nationwide would fall 50,000 beds short. Just shy of 800 people are projected to die in New York state alone on its expected April 10 peak.

The scene in the viral video behind the hospital on Ashland Place could play out many, many times over.

"Please stay inside," Lee said on the video.

Lee didn't return a request for comment. A Brooklyn Hospital Center spokesperson sent Patch a lengthy statement acknowledging the "unprecedented crisis" and need for "absolute transparency."

"Following protocols established by public health officials, The Brooklyn Hospital Center (TBHC) has accepted from the New York City Office of Emergency Management, a refrigerated truck (parked now on Ashland Place), to serve as an ancillary morgue," the statement reads. "This is needed to accommodate the tragic spike in deaths, placing a strain on the entire system of care—from hospitals to funeral homes. Grieving families cannot quickly make arrangements, and their loved ones who have passed are remaining in hospitals longer, thus the need for this accommodation. We ask our community to be respectful during this time as we remain—more than ever—committed to Keeping Brooklyn Healthy."

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