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Funeral homes 'overwhelmed'

Thu, Aug 26th 2021, 08:07 AM
Covid-19 Tribune Stories

A SIGNIFICANT increase in deaths is overwhelming and distressing funeral home workers, according to Funeral Directors Association President Kirsch Ferguson.

The obituary section of the dailies helps illustrate the point: the standard obituary section of The Tribune is a maximum 48 pages, but an unprecedented 12 additional pages are being published in the main section of the paper today.
#“Based on what I’ve experienced over the past year and in particular the last few weeks, I’d say there has been up to 30 to 50 percent increase in deaths,” Mr Ferguson said.
# “The most obvious reason is based on this surge of COVID cases we’re having. Secondary to that is the domino effect of persons not being able to access proper healthcare or hospitalisation during this time. It’s all part and parcel of what’s happening health wise.
# “In addition, as it relates to notices in the papers, some bodies of persons who expired sometime ago are just now being buried. The situation at the morgue is part of that because bodies were not being released, so that helps to explain the influx of notices as well.”
# Health officials have confirmed 343 COVID-19 deaths in The Bahamas to date, five of which were reported in the August 23 dashboard which was released yesterday. Forty-seven additional deaths are under investigation.
# The Bahamas is not among the countries that provides data on “excess deaths,” an indicator the US Centres for Disease Control defines as “the difference between observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods.”
# The measure is determined using various methodologies. Experts believe it captures the real burden of mortality related to the health events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on results, the indicator could prompt questions about whether people have died from COVID-19 but were not diagnosed with the disease, or it could suggest that deaths have occurred because of indirect reasons like not having access to healthcare services.
# On Tuesday, media in the United Kingdom reported that England and Wales recorded 10,372 deaths in the week ending August 13, up 14 percent over their five year average for that period.

The obituary section of the dailies helps illustrate the point: the standard obituary section of The Tribune is a maximum 48 pages, but an unprecedented 12 additional pages are being published in the main section of the paper today.

“Based on what I’ve experienced over the past year and in particular the last few weeks, I’d say there has been up to 30 to 50 percent increase in deaths,” Mr Ferguson said.

“The most obvious reason is based on this surge of COVID cases we’re having. Secondary to that is the domino effect of persons not being able to access proper healthcare or hospitalisation during this time. It’s all part and parcel of what’s happening health wise.

“In addition, as it relates to notices in the papers, some bodies of persons who expired sometime ago are just now being buried. The situation at the morgue is part of that because bodies were not being released, so that helps to explain the influx of notices as well.”

Health officials have confirmed 343 COVID-19 deaths in The Bahamas to date, five of which were reported in the August 23 dashboard which was released yesterday. Forty-seven additional deaths are under investigation.

The Bahamas is not among the countries that provides data on “excess deaths,” an indicator the US Centres for Disease Control defines as “the difference between observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods.”

The measure is determined using various methodologies. Experts believe it captures the real burden of mortality related to the health events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on results, the indicator could prompt questions about whether people have died from COVID-19 but were not diagnosed with the disease, or it could suggest that deaths have occurred because of indirect reasons like not having access to healthcare services.

On Tuesday, media in the United Kingdom reported that England and Wales recorded 10,372 deaths in the week ending August 13, up 14 percent over their five year average for that period.

 

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