COVID-19: SA funeral parlour owner explains how families end up with the wrong bodies

To date, at least 96-million cases of coronavirus have been recorded globally. In South Africa, COVID-19 has killed at least 38,000 people. Sadly, more people continue to suffer from the virus. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned against attending funerals, stating that they are super spreader events.

To try and curb the spread, the government has also put into place strict measures when it comes to funerals. Only 50 people can attend and the body of the deceased must be transported straight from the mortuary to the cemetery. 

READ: Spain bans funeral ceremonials

Regardless of all these rules, Kgaugelo Mapoulo, the South African Funeral Practitioner Association spokesperson, says people still find it difficult to obey the law, making the situation difficult for funeral parlours. 

The challenge that they face as funeral parlours is that families still want to carry on with their cultural activities such as bathing the body of the deceased and insisting on the funeral parlour to deliver the body of the deceased to a home, instead of going straight to the cemetery. 

READ: 'A nightmare': COVID-19 upsets South African funeral rites

“The first challenge is our attitude towards COVID-19. People do not understand that this virus is not only dangerous but deadly. As funeral parlours, we are not allowed to touch the body of a deceased COVID-19 positive person. We get them from the hospital covered in plastic. The hospital is the one which informs the family about the cause of death, and according to regulations, he or she cannot enter the family yard but has to go straight to the cemetery. But you will be surprised by family members who still insist on seeing the deceased. When we refuse, they start troubling our workers,” says Mapoulo. 

“Our second challenge is that on the day of the funeral, the family insists on the body entering their home for traditional reasons. The problem is that the virus spreads quickly. Even if a person is dead, the virus doesn’t die. It can spread to the funeral attendees,” warns Mapoulo. 

He says even at the gravesite, some people still insist on pouring sand in the grave.

“People still want to practice the same culture where they pour sand on the coffin. That is very dangerous. People need to understand that this is how deaths increase.”

Mapoulo says another big challenge they face as mortuaries is a lack of fridges to store the dead bodies due to so many deaths occurring as a result of the virus. 

Why funeral parlours treat every death as a COVID-19 case?

“Prevention is better than cure. We treat every funeral as a COVID-19 related death," says Mapoulo. 

He explains this is because of how the virus spreads. 

"We can have a COVID-19 positive corpse in our mortuary and the virus can spread to the other bodies because it is said that the virus spreads rapidly in a cold environment. 

“But people still don’t understand. People will tell you the results were negative. The danger is that sometimes COVID-19 results are released after the funeral,” warns Mapoulo. 

“After the funeral, sometimes the hospital can call and say the person died due to COVID-19 related issues. So, if we had not protected ourselves, we would get sick. This is why we treat every funeral as a COVID-19 related one.” 

He says to date, at his own mortuary, there are currently eight drivers under quarantine. Therefore, funeral parlour employees are at risk and have to do all that they can to protect themselves and their loved ones, while still offering good service to the people. 

How the bodies of the deceased are verified

There have been several reports in the media of families being given the wrong bodies to bury. 

Mapoulo says this is caused by negligence, and it is normally not the funeral parlour’s fault as they receive the body already wrapped. 

“The hospital calls the family immediately after the person has died. So, the family confirms the identity of the deceased before the hospital can wrap the person. Then the hospital gives the deceased a name tag to identify him. It might happen that when they are overcrowded, the tag can fall off, but that doesn’t normally happen," says Mapoulo. 

He says to ensure that they give the families the right body, the put on a second tag, in case the first one falls off.

“What we do on arrival, we also write with a marker on the same plastic that the deceased was brought with, to verify the name. So, we do double-checking. We check on the tag and then we write that name, so that should the tag fall off, we would still be able to know that it is the same body," says Mapoulo.

How to protect yourself in the case of death of a loved one from COVID-19

Mapoulo says people need to understand how dangerous the virus is and not live their lives as normal. He says they need to let go of some of their cultural practices, and not allow the practices to take away more lives, because COVID-19 is not a respecter of culture. 

Mapoulo says the elderly need to stay home and people must adhere to all the regulations as stated by the government. 

He also warns against conspiracy theories. 

"The problem is that everyone has their own conspiracy theory," says Mapoulo. 

He adds that regardless of what theory you hold, the Coronavirus kills and you cannot relax thinking you are safe. 

He warns that if people continue to be negligent, there will be more deaths.

"The virus will kill us. In the end, there will be mass funerals," warns Mapoulo.

Image courtesy of iStock/ @asiandelight