Workers at a German crematorium resort to heaping coffins on top of each other as the country battles a new wave of coronavirus deaths in an intense second wave of the pandemic.
According to crematorium manager Joerg Schaldach, the crematorium in the city of Meissen, in the eastern state of Saxony, started to feel the impact in November, when the number of deaths from coronavirus began to increase at an unexpected rate.
“We currently have many cases of coronavirus, which is of course highly unusual,” said Schaldach.
“We have twice as many deaths as before. Of course, people also die from other causes such as heart failure and circulation, but those who die from the coronavirus are extra and that’s an increase of 100 percent. The death rate has even doubled. “
The crematorium has a dozen workers, who usually work in two shifts from Monday to Friday. Now workers have been forced to put in more time, Schaldach said.
“We work around the clock, Monday through Sunday,” he said. “In this way we can treat the dead and cremate as soon as possible.”
People are no longer allowed to visit their loved ones in the hospital, “and you can’t hold their hand anymore when they die,” Schaldach said.
“All you get is a phone call: ‘deceased’,” he added. “Goodbye by the coffin is not possible. All you get is an urn. That’s the problem the next of kin have to deal with. they are dealing with their grief. It’s a very, very difficult process for people to send a loved one away and get that person back into an urn. “
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been a total of more than 2 million cases of coronavirus and 45,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
But Saxony did not suffer from the first wave, said city councilor Ute Czeschka.
“I think we hardly had a first wave in Saxony,” said Czeschka.
“From March to summer there were hardly any cases of coronavirus and people got used to it. That is how we started the autumn and winter season. People have not experienced it first hand and were relaxed accordingly. In the end we were overwhelmed by this wave. “
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