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The upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays will, as always, be a challenge for morgues in the Stockholm region. When funerals are not held, the laying of coffins and the recovery of the deceased from morgues is halted, which even before the corona pandemic was a problem because morgues are at risk of filling up.
This year, there were fears for the first time that the situation could get worse in Stockholm. All the crisis plans that were put in place during the spring have been activated, but before the weekends, more than half of the morgue places in the region are empty. This means that there is the capacity to serve more people if necessary.
Stockholm region, from now on It is organized in a modality called reinforcement, it follows through a coordination group the development regarding the management of the deceased day by day very closely. This is done in close collaboration with funeral homes, the funeral industry, denominations, the Church of Sweden, the cemetery administration and crematoria. This is also done in collaboration with the County Administrative Board.
Now it has been decided that as of December 23, all the deceased, with or without an established covid infection, will be placed again in the so-called funeral bags. The decision is valid until January 6. The reason is that the region’s collaborative group, even though it is currently judged that there are wide margins when it comes to mortuary sites, wants to take the safe for the unsafe.
Nadja Elofson, an autopsy technician at the Solna morgue, cares for a deceased person with covid infection. The body is in a burial bag wrapped in a sheet.
Photo: Lotta Härdelin
– If a crisis situation arises, we will have a safer and more dignified handling of the deceased if they are in funeral bags. If there is a crisis, we may be forced to relocate the deceased, so that no one runs the risk of not being stored improperly, says Claes Ruth, functions manager at Karolinska University Hospital.
For the Stockholm Region, it is It is important that the administration is equitable throughout the county. It has also been decided that viewing of the deceased will be offered in all morgues. In those cases, the sacks are opened and the morgue staff put the deceased to bed in a way that renders the sacks invisible. This is a procedure that has already been practiced during the year.
All morgue staff have also been ordered to work all holidays. However, it is not yet clear whether the directors of the coffin and funeral home pick up the deceased every day. There is a risk of you getting out of hand here, which may cause the flow to stop in handling the deceased.
– It is important that the downloads continue to be performed quickly. We have not received any indication that funeral directors have a different opinion. At the moment, we don’t see any danger, says Ulf Lerneus, president of the National Association of Funeral Contractors.
Currently, there are just over 750 of the approximately 1,674 mortuary sites in the county are occupied and the situation is considered “under control.”
However, it is a condition that can change since no one can predict how many will die in the next two weeks. If carcass removal stops at the same time as mortality suddenly rises, conditions may be different.
However, there is no reason for the collection to stop, more than there may be a shortage of staff on weekends. If funeral homes can pick it up, there are still plenty of storage places in cemeteries and crematoriums, where those in coffins can be taken.
– We experience, of course, that it is more pleasant for the deceased to come to the coffin as soon as possible, than for it to fill with people in the morgues, says Ulf Lerneus.
The region also has an agreement with the Begravningsbyråerna shuttle service, BBT, which can be activated at any time. Other measures have also been taken:
– We tested the cooling systems in the additional morgue that was built just before Easter weekend and made sure the cooling system at Dalen Hospital works, all to be prepared if there is a shortage of places, says Claes Ruth.
Claes Ruth, head of functions at the Karolinska University Laboratory, perceives that morgues are well equipped in case the death toll suddenly begins to rise.
Photo: Lotta Härdelin
As DN was able to tell in a previous report, there was an acute crisis in the morgues in connection with the Easter weekend.
– I’ve never been so scared and nervous as then, Claes Ruth told DN then.
However, in just a few days, they managed together, through the special regional management of health care, to increase the number of places from 1,100 to 1,700. This prevented what was most feared: being forced to use the Mälarhöjden ice rink as a storage facility for corpses.
Read more: The morgue staff were the real heroes
