The Community Services Company in Las Tunas works to create the necessary capacities in cemeteries due to the current epidemiological situation, which, in the last stage, has conditioned an increase in daily deaths, as a result of COVID-19.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Representatives of the entity assured that the process of exhumation of the corpses is carried out in the Major General Vicente García González Provincial Cemetery with objectivity in the foreseen period, to reuse the space and be able to contribute to the burial of the deceased, whatever their cause of death.
After preliminary calculations, which show a possible increase in deaths in the current month, which may be higher than 400, the entity has drawn up its strategies and, if necessary, the Becerra cemetery and, ultimately, that of Santa María would be used.
The highest authorities of the territory have given priority to the issue and organizations such as Constructive Maintenance have been summoned to redouble the production of platelets and other essential resources in the placement of funeral slabs.
The directors of the entity also emphasized that the daily manufacture of sarcophagi has increased, and they are currently taking steps to collect more wood. Despite the urgency, the personnel works to guarantee the service with the highest possible quality.
Elio Couso Marino, the administrator of the provincial cemetery, told the local radio that there is a brigade activated 24 hours a day at the facility. "Sometimes up to six burials are made a day, although not all due to the COVID-19,” he pointed out. In the case of the deceased by COVID, the usual wake can be dispensed with, and the corpses of those who die from other causes are exposed in the funeral home for only two hours.”
He also emphasized that 110 new capacities are being created, the previous month there were 60; for this, they have steel, cement, Sandino-type panel slabs, and the support of the agencies.
Couso Marino explained that, at the time of burial, in the case of COVID-19 positives, only workers are present, family members should not enter, following health protocols.
Despite the material limitations that the country is currently facing, the existing resources are made available to the most pressing needs of the population; with the involvement of various agencies and local authorities, it is possible to accompany the families at times like this, of incalculable loss and pain.
