The reality of the pandemic in funeral homes: "There are many more dead than they say"

• Direct. Last minute about the coronavirus crisis
• The map: the advance of the coronavirus in Spain
• Data: the autonomies add up to more than 11,300 deaths in nursing homes

"This is much bigger than what they are saying. The magnitude of what is happening is much greater than previously said without taking into account the deaths outside the hospital, and is still higher than what they are saying now. The funeral sector has no doubts: the mortality caused by the health crisis will far exceed, which is reflected in official government statistics , even after the correction made last Friday to incorporate deaths in nursing homes and homes.

Fernando Sánchez , director of communication for Grupo Mémora, the main funeral operator on the Iberian Peninsula, speaks with great clarity , with 140 funeral homes in Spain and Portugal . «In Barcelona we have multiplied by five the number of deaths. From 40 on average we have gone to days of more than 200. That still does not match the figures that are now being given. We are still far from reality, "continues the spokesperson for Mémora, who also underlines how the coronavirus is having a" global incidence "in the increase in mortality in Spain, not only due to the deaths caused directly by the virus, but for many other indirect deaths generated by the health crisis. «There are those who die from Covid-19, from causes related to Covid, and then those who die from not being able to go to a hospital because they are collapsed, or those who do not dare to go with heart attack symptoms and end up dying at home. There are a series of deaths collateral to this Covid crisis that makes mortality much higher, "Sanchez certifies after seeing first hand the evolution of the pandemic in its extensive network of funeral homes.

The diagnosis coincides with Josep Maria Mons , president of the Association of Funeral Service Companies of Catalonia (Asfuncat), the autonomous community that last Thursday brought out in just 24 hours more than 3,000 new deceased people after incorporating into their computation the data provided by funeral homes since last April 1. A formula that is also using the Community of Madrid, which claimed to have notified up to 3,000 deaths in nursing homes to Health without having been incorporated into the Ministry's statistics.

“We were very surprised by the number of official deaths when we were seeing a much larger increase in work than was being transmitted. We saw that the data that was being given was far from reality. Many deaths were taking place in nursing homes and homes. Today's photography is more real, "says Mgr.

«And there is a delay in the information. I continue to see the figures from the Health Department of the Generalitat every night and they follow me without adding any number », insists the Mémora spokesperson in conversation with EL MUNDO.

Despite their evident contribution when publicizing deaths that the Government was not admitting, the funeral homes believe that the Administration has its own tools to account for the deceased without having to transfer that responsibility to the funeral homes. "It is highly surprising that we have to be the official source of information on the number of deceased," confesses Sánchez, who calls the decision of Catalonia or the Community of Madrid "surreal" and wonders why the Registries are not used Civilians to know the real number of deceased, since all death certificates must be in their possession and, therefore, in the hands of the Administration.

«The rigor of our data is limited. We are funerals, not doctors, and we transcribe what doctors put on the death certificate. We send the positives and the suspects to the Generalitat, which is who does the screening, "says the president of Asfuncat. «Some parts indicate 'Covid'; others 'Possible Covid'; and others, compatible pathologies, such as pneumonia or dyspnea ”, but we can only reflect what it puts literally, completes the spokesperson for Mémora. Hence, the Generalitat's statistics include 521 deaths "not classifiable due to lack of information."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Spain
• Madrid's community
• Catalonia
• Barcelona
• Portugal
• Coronavirus

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