I heard an announcement the other day by the Ghana Police Hospital that they would be undertaking a mass burial of unidentified and unclaimed bodies at their morgue to ease congestion.  It got me thinking of the funeral landscape in Ghana.

The saying that Ghanaians love their dead is really true.  Even though there’s a clear distinction between the laying to rest and final funeral ceremonies, Ghanaians love the two equally.  They will go all lengths to ensure their deceased are sent off with befitting final burial and funeral rites.  The fact that some Ghanaians are to be given a mass burial clearly indicates that their families are unaware they are about to be interred as an infection and disease control measure.

The above announcement got me thinking about burials and funerals during these COVID-19 days.  To limit the spread of the disease in the social life of Ghanaians, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo announced that public gatherings, including funerals are to be suspended.  Private burials are however permitted, provided the funeral party does not exceed 25 persons.  

The ban on funerals did not sit well with some families with deceased family members in the morgues.  That would mean they would not be able to have well-befitting sendoffs for their dearly departed.  You could translate that into flamboyant burials and last funeral rites.

The closure of Ghana’s borders to further prevent the importation of the coronavirus, again put a dampener on some funeral plans.  Some families were waiting for their family members outside the country to come help bury their beloved dead in grand style.  These have all been suspended until the borders are reopened. 

According to experts in the field, COVID-19 is going to be around for a while; at least for a year and beyond.  It is expected that an effective vaccine can be found within that time.  This optimistic assertion has been made by Anthony Fauci, Head, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), USA and several others.  The appropriate vaccine or vaccines are supposed to be tested 12 to 18 months before being made public.  

Within that same span of time, it is also hoped that scientists who are researching and exploring into effective drug treatments for the disease will be successful at their discoveries.

It is also expected that a part of the population, within that year and a half, will get infected and the spread of the disease will come to a gradual halt when the population develops a form of community immunity known as ‘herd immunity’.  Unfortunately, this will not come without morbidity and several deaths especially if we are not diligent with social distancing, hand washing, and wearing of masks.

Thankfully, as the pandemic rages on, the current mortality rate of COVID-19 in Ghana is relatively low.  If the rate increases, the COVID dead will be forced to vie for space in our mortuaries, competing with ongoing deaths from other causes; i.e. ageing, other ailments, accidents, etc.

It is in order that even with social activities prohibited, private burials are allowed to take place with the mandatory observances for the limited number of attendees and observation of social distancing.  The ban on handshaking and the mandatory wearing of face masks are all measures to help slow down the spread of the disease.  

We cannot continue to keep the laying to rest of our beloved dead in limbo because we desire to conduct befitting goodbyes.  The morgues will exceed their capacities.  Higher energy costs will be needed to run our mortuaries in preserving the dead.  Electricity that could be used in our industries, supplied to households, power our hospitals, will be expended that way.

In the unlikely situation where the ban on funerals is lifted before a vaccine or cure is found, the ‘old funerals ways’ will become biological bombs.  This will cause the virus to spread faster due to the following:

• The customary goodbye rituals that involve the handling of cadavers in preparation for interment.  For example, Christians close the eyelids, wash the bodies by hand and dress them appropriately.  Muslims also easy their dead and wrap them in white cloth.

• The large number of attendees.  This includes the elderly with their diminished immunity due to old age and attendant health problems.

• The exchange of greetings and offering of commiserations that usually involve handshaking and hugging. 

• The handling of food packs and water in their distribution and receiving during funeral receptions can also cause the spread of the disease.

• Eating and drinking during receptions will necessitate the removal of any protective face covering.  This would leave guests susceptible to infection.

• The handling of money by mourners as they donate to support the bereaved.  The receivers of the donations are also at risk.

The President entreating bereaved families to bury their dead in his recent COVID-19 update address cannot be ignored.  The dead must be buried as quickly as possible. 

Traditional rulers, opinion leaders and community elders who are closer to the populace, must help to discourage the ongoing practice of ‘hoarding' of bodies to await the conclusion of the lockdown and the lifting of the ban on funerals.

The Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panyin III, has called on residents of Akyem Abuakwa to privately bury their dead in a month’s time.  According to him, the morgues in the municipality are choked and need to be freed up.  He added that the burials will be conducted with supervision from the hospitals, health authorities, heads of local assemblies and security services to endure adherence. 

In a similar move, the Akuapim Traditional Council has also urged families with their deceased at the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital mortuary to claim them within a month to bury them privately.  This is because the facility is full and needs to be depopulated.  Failure of families to do so would result in them being interred in a mass burial.

We must learn lessons from the Ebola crisis of 2014 – 2016 where the deceased’s families insisted on performing farewell rites:- washing, dressing, hugging and kissing.  Some tribes insisted it was their cultural practice to separate dead fetuses from their mothers before consigning them to their graves.  Others insisted on conducting the burials themselves.   All these led to the spread and prolonged existence of the disease.

It cannot be overemphasised that observance of laid down preventive measures to limit the transmission of the coronavirus disease is a must if these small private burials are going to be our goodbye choice for our beloved dead for the foreseeable future.

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Ivy-Barbara Arthur is an aspiring freelance writer and author, a wide detour from her training in administration. Ms Arthur would like to venture into blogging eventually. She lives in Accra, Ghana.

Kofi Asomaning is a medical doctor by training and an epidemiologist by specialization. He counts writing as one of his favorite pastimes.