Bodies piling up as Bay funeral homes overwhelmed by Covid-19 deaths

On Thursday alone, Vantyi and Vantyi undertakers conducted 25 funerals in Nelson Mandela Bay.

On Friday, the funeral home buried 10 more people, and will on Saturday hold about 30 funerals.

Vantyi and Vantyi is just one of several Bay funeral parlours struggling to keep up with the increasing number of deaths in the city driven mainly by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Undertakers, particularly those working in the townships,  have resorted to conducting funerals daily to keep up with demand and prevent bodies from piling up in the fridges of mortuaries.

Fearful of contracting the killer virus, their staff are also resorting to treating all bodies as if they are Covid-19 cases when the cause of death cannot be established.

Undertakers are not the only ones preparing for the worst —  Netcare Greenacres hospital has set up a stand-alone mortuary to cope with the expectant spike in deaths.

By Wednesday, the metro had recorded 118 Covid-19 deaths, with 5,641 infections — a number that is expected to grow exponentially, with the coronavirus expected to peak in SA in September or October.

Vantyi and Vantyi manager Vuyo Vantyi said since the global pandemic hit the metro, there had been an increase in the number of burials conducted.

He said undertakers  also faced  increased risk when collecting the bodies of people who died in their own homes — another growing trend —  because they were often uncertain whether the deceased had contracted the virus.

“We have to be cautious because not everyone discloses or knows the status of their loved ones because they had never tested before.”

Vantyi claimed the municipality had failed undertakers and was not providing them with any assistance.

“People are scared and do not want to get close to Covid-19 bodies and so, when it is time to close the grave, the municipality is nowhere to be seen.

“This is the municipality’s role and it is totally missing.

“I’ve resorted to using  [backhoe loaders to fill graves] because even my own people are scared and this is how I’m putting their minds at ease,” he said.

People who die of Covid-19 should be cremated, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Should this not be possible, burials should follow strict procedures.

Bodies must be placed in a leakproof, triple body bag and then buried in a non-transparent coffin.

Odwa Duru, of Odwa Duru Funerals, said some undertakers were resorting to leaving bodies at state and hospital mortuaries until the day of the funeral.

Duru said this went against African tradition, because most families wanted their loved ones’ bodies to enter their homes before burial.

“It may take a while, but we will overcome Covid-19.

“But some families may not want to use us again because we did not go past their homes,” he said.

Duru revealed he was in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus.

“My staff and I took a body from Dora Nginza Hospital, conducted the funeral either on Friday and Saturday, and only the following Tuesday I was informed by the hospital that the body we had fetched had tested positive for Covid-19.

“The family of the deceased was also shocked, as they said the doctor they dealt with had never told them of the diagnosis.

“I had 16 of my staff members tested; four of us tested positive and we’ve been in quarantine since,” Duru said.

In a letter dated May 25, Uitenhage Provincial Hospital acting CEO Lulekwa Mayekiso warned  undertakers against leaving bodies until the last minute before fetching them.

“This behaviour has a negative impact on the department and the community at large,” the letter said.

“The department has limited space and this behaviour can lead to various interpretations or assumptions such as discrimination and dehumanisation, since even the dead deserve respect.”

Uitenhage Funerals owner Mike Nqakula said because of the large number of funerals families risked burying the wrong person.

“There was also a guideline introduced for coffins to be wrapped in plastic before funerals are conducted.

“This could be problematic for families as some [parlours] might not use the expensive coffins the family had paid for,” he said.

Fig Tree Funeral Home owner Kevin Hendricks said it had received the bodies of three people who died from Covid-19-related complications, but did not expect to run out of space.

“There hasn’t been a sudden change in numbers as such,” Hendricks said, adding he believed the official Covid-19 death tolls were inaccurate.

“There are definitely more than they say,” Hendricks said.

Andrew Kramer, of Kramer Funeral Homes  in Newton Park, said this parlour had not experienced a sudden influx of bodies.

But  he said when his staff  called at hospitals with their own morgues, including Livingstone and Dora Nginza, they witnessed “loads” of corpses marked “Covid-19”.

Vera Vinqi, of the Bay’s Funeral Practitioners’ Association,  confirmed  undertakers were treating all bodies as if they were Covid-19 cases to protect themselves.

Vinqi said this brought added costs for undertakers.

“PPE [personal protective equipment] is expensive and it’s not only that, it is fumigating the car, the fridge and all other spaces each time we take in a Covid-19 body,” Vinqi said.

Neither of the Bay’s two Netcare hospitals, Greenacres and Cuyler, have mortuaries, though  Greenacres has recently acquired a facility to cope with the expected influx.

Eastern Cape area GM Andre Bothma said the two hospitals were managing deceased Covid-19 patients with respect and staff were adhering to comprehensive precautionary guidelines to ensure their own health was not compromised.

The hospitals arranged with private funeral parlours to collect the deceased in consultation with their families.

“We have not experienced any capacity problems with this arrangement,” Bothma said.

Life Healthcare regional manager Riaan Croucamp said Life St George’s and Life Mercantile hospitals did not have on-site mortuaries, and worked closely with other mortuaries and funeral homes to collect bodies.

“There have been no difficulties or delays experienced thus far,” Croucamp said.

He said the hospital had established a holding facility to create capacity “should the surge require it”.

Health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said forensic pathology facilities like those at New Brighton and Mount Road police stations did not store Covid-19 bodies.

Kupelo said the holding capacity at New Brighton was 80 while Mount Road’s was 30.

One of these could be converted into a holding facility for virus cases if needed.

“The Eastern Cape health department is working closely with the local municipality, where the team is hiring refrigerated containers to be placed at the Port Elizabeth Stadium in the event of an influx of Covid-19 cases,” Kupelo said.