UNLIKE in the month of July and first three weeks of August during which most of the funeral homes were operating at full capacity, a big funeral home in Cebu City said the cadavers for cremation and direct burial have significantly decreased in number since the last week of August.
The manager of the funeral home, who requested anonymity, told SunStar Cebu that for the month of August the funeral home had accommodated 110 cadavers for cremation and direct burial, adding that 99 of the cadavers (90 percent) were cremated.
Of the 99 cadavers, around 89 that were cremated were Covid-19 cases, the manager said.
From July to August, the manager said they accommodated five to six bodies for cremation in one day; reservations for cremation were also full for three days during this period.
Cebu City recorded a total of 87 Covid-19 deaths for the month of July and 266 deaths for the month of August.
Some of the families of the deceased individuals were advised to choose direct burial instead, because of the full reservations for cremation, the manager said.
As of Sept. 4, however, only four cadavers were scheduled for cremation, and the manager said catering to below five cadavers for cremation is considered as their normal operation.
The reservation list for Monday, Sept. 6, remains free, but some possible clients inquired about the funeral home’s cremation services.
The total cremation process usually consumes three hours—an hour for cremation, an hour for cooling and another hour for the powdering of the remains.
The funeral home had procured two additional mortuary freezers that can store six cadavers each.
A total of 10 cadavers were stored in their four freezers on Sunday, Sept. 5.
The manager said only non-Covid cadavers scheduled for embalming are stored in freezers. Covid-positive cadavers are cremated or buried immediately. (MVE)