A funeral director fights for New York's coronavirus dead

Jesus Pujols has fetched the deceased from emergency rooms.

He has stepped over bodies in refrigerated trailers. The funeral homes he serves are storing remains by the dozen, often in chapels chilled by cranked-up air conditioners.

The 23-year-old funeral director is sleeping some nights in his minivan - the same one he uses to transport the dead. He thinks he worked nearly 80 hours last week, but he hasn't really kept count.

"Right now, money is not worth it. It's not worth it. I would give up my job any day for like a normal job. I'd much rather be quarantined in my house right now," he said.

Monday was Pujols' day off.

That's what the schedule said, at least. He knew that wouldn't work out.

First, the overnight undertaker had to finish his shift from Sunday. He pulled into his first hospital at 8:30 am that day, and finally collapsed into his bed around 4:30 Monday morning.

At midnight, he was outside a hospital dealing with yet another delay. The only attendant working the morgue had been pulled away by another emergency, so Pujols waited.

A familiar, frustrating routine.

Hospitals are begging funeral directors to chauffeur away the deceased, but some don't have the resources to coordinate the pickups.

Last week, Pujols visited one hospital twice and couldn't find the body he needed. On his third try, he was told the remains were still in the intensive care unit.

"I understand there's so many people dying," Pujols said. "But there's no excuse to lose a person."