Do the bodies of those killed by Covid-19 transmit the disease?

The Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil went through some of its worst days during the funeral crisis that erupted since mid-March.

Images of dozens of coffins and bodies exposed on the streets, in the absence of options to bury them, showed one of the worst faces of the covid-19 pandemic in the world.

In addition to the collapse of the health system in the province of Guayas, the most affected by the disease in Ecuador, another part of the problem was the fear generated by the handling of the bodies.

“There was a complete lack of control. Fear has caused many funeral homes to close their doors. Many have gone into hiding and few funeral homes remain (operational),” Spanish BBC service Merwin Terán, president, told BBC News Mundo. of the Ecuadorian Federation of Funeral Directors.

“In fact, in Ecuador, we are far behind in the funeral system and we have no (government) guidelines for doing our job,” says the leader of the group representing 700 funeral homes in the country.

Doubts about what to do and how to deal with the bodies of the dead due to covid-19 or related to suspicious cases do not exist only in Ecuador.

In Mexico City, the authorities issued their own recommendations: not to hold funerals or perform autopsies, as well as transfers outside the city.

And in Honduras, in the Cortés Department (State), which accounts for 70% of deaths from covid-19, some residents even used machetes and sticks to prevent burial of victims of the disease, the Reuters agency reported.

But do bodies transmit disease? Can you hold a funeral? Should they be cremated or buried?

Contagion can be avoided

When the necessary care is taken and proper management is practiced, there is no reason to fear the spread of covid-19 by corpses, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) in a guide requested by BBC News World.

“Except in cases of hemorrhagic fever (such as Ebola or Marburg hemorrhagic fever) and cholera, cadavers are generally not infectious,” says the WHO.

“The lungs of pandemic influenza patients can only be (infectious) if they are mishandled during an autopsy. Otherwise, dead bodies do not transmit disease,” adds the entity.

This does not mean that the virus dies with the person, because in the case of acute respiratory diseases, the lungs and other organs “may continue to harbor live viruses.”

But, in general, they are only released in autopsy procedures (such as the use of electric saws or internal washing) by funeral directors and forensic service workers.

Family and friends of a person who died of covid-19 should wait for properly protected and trained personnel to prepare the body for burial or cremation.

Can there be a funeral?

The WHO does not prohibit funerals, but requires that this be done carefully.

“If the family only wants to see the body without touching it, they can do so as long as they take standard precautions at all times, especially hand hygiene. The family should be given clear instructions not to touch or kiss the body,” he says. who

One should continue to practice physical distance between people, constantly washing their hands when they are at a funeral. It is not recommended that people over 60 years old or immunosuppressed people interact directly with the corpse.

Merwin Terán recalls the difficult conditions facing funeral services and the families of victims in Ecuador.

“For us, used to seeing the reality of death, it was very difficult to enter to recognize a body. The workers no longer wanted to enter, they began to leave their job,” he says.

Given the large number of deaths in Guayaquil, hospitals made use of warehouses without refrigeration equipment or body preservation procedures. Families enter these places, he said, to find the deceased.

This goes against the WHO recommendations, which emphasize that the bodies should be handled and prepared by professionals from the place where they die to the funeral home, the crematorium or the burial place.

But “there is no need to use special bags” (unless there is excessive leakage of body fluids), and they do not need to be transported by special vehicles.

Burying or cremating?

The choice between burial and cremation of a corpse will depend on the family.

“There is a widespread belief that people who have died of a contagious disease should be cremated, but that is not true,” says the WHO. “Incineration is a matter of cultural choice and availability of resources.”

Those who need special protection at a funeral, such as gloves, are the people who place the body in the grave or niche.

In places where there are no funeral services or it is traditional to prepare a body for burial, the person in charge of this should have all protections.

You should wear gloves, eye protection, a mask, a waterproof apron, wash your hands and clothing after you finish, says the WHO.

It is not necessary to incinerate or dispose of the deceased’s belongings, but precautions such as handling with gloves and washing with detergent should be taken, as well as disinfecting objects with alcohol or bleach.