Management Protocols for the Handling and Disposal of COVID-19 Positive Corpses

John Bodden

So far, two persons have died from COVID-19 and as we know, the protocols for their burial are within the established measures set by the World Health Organization. The Public Health Department’s principal public health inspector John Bodden today provided details for the management of COVID-19 related deaths. The protocols, as he outlines, include how the body is handled and disposed. He says the two options are burial or cremation. He explains:

John Bodden, Public Health Inspector

“Primarily what happens in the management of these individuals are primarily the same approaches but with some modifications. For example, if an individual dies at this point in time, the body is placed directly into a body bag. So, this is something different than what used to happen before. It would be taken down on the gurney to the morgue and then placed in the storage facility until they are ready to do the necessary processing of that body. So, at this point in time the individual will be bagged in a body bag and then taken to the morgue. At that point in time the body bag would be disinfected thoroughly with a disinfectant, normally bleach disinfectant one in one hundred or one percent; so the entire body bag would be disinfectant and immediately after that it would be placed in a casket. This is where there is a differentiation what used to happen in the routine time and now in this emergency because the body is then moved directly from the morgue table into the casket and then the casket is disinfected as well and taken out for burial. Now, in terms of that procedure it must be done immediately or as early as possible with very little interaction. If you realize we didn’t talk about any type of invasive procedures being done, for instance an autopsy. That is not really what is expected to be done unless there is a coroner’s case that requires that but at this point in time we know that the person died of COVID and we know that there is the urgent need for us to do the final disposal of the individual and this can be done in two medium; cremation or burial. This is an approach that is adapted in case where there are many unknowns.  As early as possible if we could do the final disposal of the remains, it would be better protection for the population. While some people may actually prefer cremation because the ashes can be then used for a later funeral service, some people choose that and in other cases, people choose to do the burial.”