Stretched funeral homes brace for busy 2021 over looming Covid-19 deaths

Funeral homes are preparing to work around the clock in the coming weeks as the Christmas holidays indicated a possible busy new year, with more Covid-19 deaths expected.

The second wave saw a resurgence in Covid-19-related deaths, with 214 deaths recorded on 27 December compared with 89 a month prior.

The country stood at a cumulative 26,735 Covid-19-related deaths, with the Eastern Cape and Western Cape leading with totals of 6925 and 6218 respectively.

On Christmas day, funeral homes saw at least a 50% increase in collection of bodies compared with previous years, said the SA Funeral Practitioners Association.

Spokesperson Monageng Legae said unlike fatal car accidents, they were now seeing more natural deaths, which were possible unconfirmed Covid-19 cases.

“There has been a drastic increase [in natural deaths] over the past week. With Christmas day, we saw a 50% rise in the pick up rate, meaning that clearly something is coming. We are in for something different this time,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the signs are there that we are going to be in for a busy January. [Yesterday] we actually convened a meeting that we might not [be able to celebrate] New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day because if we do, we might have a backlog and that is going to be a huge problem.”

Of the 214 recorded deaths on Sunday, 123 were from the Eastern Cape.

The Eastern Cape was “far ahead” in Covid-19 deaths as cases spread faster in Nelson Mandela Bay leading to a huge spike in the province’s Covid-19 mortality rate, said South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) chief specialist scientist Professor Debbie Bradshaw.

While deaths are taking time to spread across the country, things could be worse judging by Nelson Mandela Bay, she said. “The numbers are definitely increasing and it’s a little bit different [now]. The Eastern Cape is far ahead and the Western Cape has started increasing as well.

“I think it’s going to affect the whole country, especially at this time of the year when a lot of people are seeing their families. It is hard to predict but I do think that the second wave is going to roll out across the country and it could lead to higher numbers [of deaths] than in the first wave,” she said.

According to SAMRC’s weekly death reports, SA saw 3085 recorded excess natural deaths in the week of 15 December compared with 1229 recorded Covid-19 deaths in the same week.

Funeral practitioners called on government to embark on testing those who have died of natural causes as that was something the industry or bereaved families could not do themselves, said Legae.

“We want to know [from government] who is going to fund this. We can’t expect a grieving family to fund something that is not going to bring back their loved ones. And we are not medical professionals who will take proper swabs,” he said.

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