Cristian Ruiz
Morelia, Michoacán.- In Michoacán, people who die as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus are buried or cremated under the protocols set by the Federal Health Secretariat (SSA) within the Guide to Carvid-19 Body Management, carlos Ramos Esquivel, Director of Health Services, of the Ministry of Health in Michoacán (SSM) reported.
In an interview, the official said that this guide indicates that funeral homes should prepare the body with standard health and cleaning measures, i.e. hand washing of mortuary personnel, wearing gloves, surgical mask, protective equipment such as robes or masks, as well as clean plates and spaces duly disinfected and ventilated to perform body preparation or necropsy , if necessary.
On incineration, he said it is the most recommended measure by health authorities, as performing a wake is not the most convenient because of the risk that occlusion relatives may have of having contact with their bodily fluids.
However, he said the funeral homes can also prepare the body to be buried without a massive ceremony.
Questioned about the risks that people near the corpse of a person who lost their lives to Covid-19 would have, Ramos Esquivel said he is still on global analysis how long the virus is spent inside the body once they die.
“The recommendation is that the body be cremated for safety reasons, the virus requires certain conditions to stay alive as an adequate temperature and oxygen, obviously a lifeless body no longer has them but still remains for a couple of hours the virus in force,” he explained.
Therefore, he said, the SSM through the State Commission for the Protection of Health Risks (Coepris) carried out the funeral inspection to explain the protocol to be followed for people who died from covid-19.
“They were informed about covid-19’s Body Management Guide, some approached us a little earlier because there was uncertainty about what the treatment was like, but everyone already knows what to do in case they are hired for such a service.”
When requesting telephone reports on a person’s funeral services with Covid-19, both Santa Cruz and Gayosso Funerals stated that they can only offer both incineration or burial services, but performing a funeral ceremony is not possible because of the official provision of the SSA.
However, on social media there have been multiple complaints from relatives of Covid-19 deaths who claim the funeral home gave them no choice but to incinerate in the body of their loved one.
This caused the press last Tuesday to question Hugo López-Gattell, undersecretary of health about the protocol to be followed with people who die as a result of coronavirus, to which he replied that this provision would be removed within the Guide to The Management of Corpses by Covid-19.
“It does not substantially affect this requirement in terms of health, protection against contagion from deceased people that may be a form of direct contact propagation working in the disposal services of the remains and the idea of the cremation criterion will be eliminated,” he said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO), explains in a carcass handling manual in the context of coronavirus covid-19 that treatment must be under the usual hygiene and ventilation that each country regulates and in the case of any necropsy should be used N95 mask, yes it will only be the preparation of the body without opening cavities can be a surgical mask.
They also reiterate that bodies can be buried or cremated and depending on the case it could be considered a funeral ceremony with fewer than 20 people to avoid health risks.
