Medical personnel who handle corpses and remains should be included among those prioritized for receiving protective gear, a New York City professor told Buzzfeed News after the first report of a coronavirus transmission from a dead body was published.
A letter published by the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, describes a case in which a medical examiner in Thailand contracted the new coronavirus from the dead body of a person with the virus. The medical examiner later died.
"This is the first report on COVID-19 infection and death among medical personnel in a forensic medicine unit," the letter states.
Angelique Corthals, PhD, a professor of pathology at City University of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, told Buzzfeed News that this report raises concerns not just for "the medical examiners, but morgue technicians and the people in funeral homes," who need to take "extra care."
No one knows how long the new coronavirus can survive in corpses.