One of the states in America that have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic is New York. Every day, hundreds of dead bodies are cremated or buried, leaving funeral homes open 24/7.
On April 11, the news site Weekly Inquirer published an article about an exhausted 48-year-old funeral home employee who took a nap after a 16-hour shift and was cremated by mistake. The article is titled "NEW YORK, NY: EXHAUSTED FUNERAL HOME EMPLOYEE CREMATED BY MISTAKE WHILE TAKING A NAP" with a subheading of "An employee of a New York, Funeral & Cremation Service died yesterday, after being accidentally cremated by one of his coworkers."
The article even stated that the police investigated the incident and that the said employee named Michael Jones decided to take a nap on a stretcher after working for 16 hours straight since the funeral home that he is working in is experiencing a sudden influx of dead bodies.
Readers of the article took no time to share the shocking "news" on social media, garnering sympathy from the public as they realized how overwhelmed the whole system is because of the pandemic. However, India Today Anti Fake News War Room or AFWA has found the news to be a hoax.
Fact check
The tragic event was not based on a factual recounting of real-life events. It originated with a website that wrote a satire article and the site even added a disclaimer that says so. Unfortunately, the disclaimer placed by The Weekly Inquirer was buried at the bottom of the web page and a lot of readers missed it.
Satire articles are not new, numerous sites have been publishing them for years. The Weekly Inquirer added in their privacy policy that "Information contained in this website is for information and entertainment purposes only." The website also declared that it is not responsible for inaccurate and incorrect information that is given in the published articles. This means that the article about the funeral home employee who was cremated by mistake is false.
Purpose of satire articles
Satire is a technique used by writers in order to criticize the foolishness, expose the corruption, and show the incompetence of an individual, the government or the society. Writers use humor, exaggeration, irony, and ridicule in the intention of improving the current state of society by criticizing all its flaws.
Current state of New York
On April 14, 10,834 New Yorkers had died of the coronavirus. The city had seen a decline in hospitalizations the past few days, although no one knows whether the virus had rounded a peak or it is just sliding into a plateau.
In order to help stop the spread of the virus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo orders the public to stay at home, practice social distancing and wear a face mask if they need to go out.
The governor will sign an executive order that requires everyone to wear a mask in public. On April 15, he stated that he will give a three-day notice period before the order is enforced to allow people to secure masks or coverings. He added that he is considering a civil penalty for those who will break the rule.
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