Difficulties in burying the dead during the coronavirus era

"It's crazy," worries Franck Vasseur, director of funeral directors L'Autre Rive, which has two agencies, in Paris and Lyon, to deal with the increase in deaths linked to Covid-19.

Over the past two weeks, Baptiste Santilly, manager of the funeral home of the same name, has recorded an increase in the number of deaths to be treated in the order of 40%. "We have treated 26 cases linked to Covid-19, which is enormous compared to the total amount of deaths," he reports to France 24.

In this unprecedented health crisis, funeral advisers, porters, thanatopractors - who administer care - and crematorium operators are on the front line. However, the evolution of the methods of taking charge of the bodies and the lack of equipment made available to them causes concern for these professionals. How to adapt to the situation by protecting employees while responding as best as possible to families' demand?

Immediate brewing

"We are on an artistic blur," deplores Franck Vasseur, referring to the latest notices published concerning health conditions for the funeral of the coronavirus dead.

Until March 24, in fact, the recommendations of the High Council for Public Health (HCSP) abounded in a radical sense. No mortuary toilet, no preparation of the body, no presentation of the deceased to the family and immediate brewing. Instructions which have evolved somewhat, now allowing acts of thanatopraxia, but also the presentation of the deceased to his relatives.

The rules have been relaxed, with the HCSP admitting that the routes of transmission of the virus are reduced after the patient's death. Also, now, "relatives can see the face of the deceased in the hospital, mortuary or funeral, while respecting the barrier measures," wrote the body responsible for providing decision support to the Minister of Health. .

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But in practice, many professionals in the funeral sector refuse to do so. "We are totally opposed to this because, otherwise, in a week, there will be no more staff to bury people," said Franck Vasseur, explaining that his company's policy will still be that of setting in immediate beer (without presentation of the body to the family) with deposit of the coffin in a funeral home awaiting the funeral.

It is also this policy that Baptiste Santilly chose to adopt. "I will not change my way of doing things," says the funeral director, who has nine agencies in Île-de-France and Oise, as well as three funeral homes. "I want to preserve my employees because we don't really know if the bodies are very infectious or if they are much less infectious than when the patient was alive," he continues.

"We live in fear every day"

In this difficult context, undertakers must at all costs preserve their personnel, already under-equipped, to limit the spread of the virus. "We consider that the operating personnel are not protected because they are not considered as a medical profession", deplores Franck Vasseur. "We have absolutely nothing, we have three poor masks, while we are a team of five and we constantly receive from the public."

"It's quite painful," euphemistizes Baptiste Santilly. "Normally, when we go to look for a deceased Covid-19, we have very specific equipment: a jumpsuit, a charlotte, a mask, glasses and overshoes," he lists. "But it is difficult to get them, there is a lack of equipment and I hope that the State will make certain things available to us soon", he hopes while the funeral sector is still not part of the lists priority professions for access to masks.

In direct and prolonged contact with the deceased, many thanatopractors have also asserted their right of withdrawal. "They don't even want to intervene to make pacemaker withdrawals, which are compulsory for cremation or burial," adds Baptiste Santilly, who justifies this refusal by the desire to protect all employees.

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Within the nine agencies, his company has also implemented a number of measures aimed at preserving customers and employees. Gloves, disposable pens, hygiaphones ... "At the moment, we receive a lot of families who have been in contact with deceased Covid-19 or who are themselves infected," explains T -he. "We live in fear every day."

In addition, in the case of the two undertakers contacted by France 24, agency meetings are limited to three people (two members of the family of the deceased and a funeral adviser); two people if it is the funeral of a deceased Covid-19. A necessary but nevertheless difficult measure according to Franck Vasseur. "It's complicated to have to put people out."

Humanly, "no funeral assistant is ready for that"

All of these limitations also apply to cremation ceremonies and burials. "No ceremony possible at the crematorium, only the technical acts are carried out: the coffin is deposited at the crematorium and the cremation takes place without the family's presence," explains the director of L'Autre Rive. Churches, on the other hand, limit the number of people who can attend religious ceremonies to twenty and impose that health measures of social distancing must be respected, making it possible to avoid any contamination. The same policy is adopted in cemeteries, some of them even limiting the number of people allowed to visit the site to ten.

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These circumstances complicate the long mourning process undertaken by families when a loved one is lost. In recent weeks, of the 65 funerals processed by his company, Baptiste Santilly says he has seen between 15 and 20 without any family. "Either people were infected themselves, or they were afraid to leave their homes," he said. To make up for this absence, this last missed meeting, the manager of the Santilly funeral director says that he has set up a system of filmed funerals to guarantee families that everything went well. "Tributes have also been offered to families so that they can assemble at the cemetery after confinement, and after the pandemic is over."

A human dimension and support that it is difficult to fully ensure in these troubled times. "No funeral assistant is ready for that," admits Baptise Santilly. "We have to respect security measures, social distancing ... Of course empathy is there, but it's very complicated", he continues, insisting on the "extraordinary work" carried out by his collaborators.

"We are stressed. It's a lot of work but we are doing the right thing," adds Franck Vasseur. "It's our job," he says. "And it's not just about putting people in a box and closing it."

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