Since the beginning of January, 468 Corona victims have passed through the Ministry of Religious Affairs' evacuation center for the deceased, which links hospitals to burial society organizations throughout the country, compared with only 38 in December 2021. This is according to official data obtained by Israel Today.
The burial society's organizations report a huge load on the Omicron wave and funerals that take place one after the other.
The members of the organization believe that we are only at the beginning of the road and that in about a month we may hear about the deaths of many corona patients who are now infected with the virus.
In recent days, they say, the age of the deceased is falling, and they are also forced to accompany children on their final journey.
"It is very difficult to deal with the situation at the moment," Rabbi Avraham Menela, chairman of the Funeral Society Forum and head of the Funeral Society in Tel Aviv, told Israel Today. "We are at the edge of the workforce.
We are recruiting more volunteers.
In the previous wave we barely survived with similar numbers, but now we are still not close to the peak of the dead.
What if there were another 50 percent of the dead today?
I pray that we do not reach such a situation. "
Purity for Corona's deceased, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
The large burial society organizations around the country have recently been working in an expanded format, to provide a service to the smaller organizations, which are unable to perform the purification of the deceased, which includes the disinfection and other special operations to prevent infection.
"14 funerals a day"
In Jerusalem, according to Moshe Shimon, CEO of the "Kehilat Yerushalayim" burial society, which takes care of more than 50 percent of the burials in the capital every day, the organization performs the purification of corona victims in the area, including those who die in the city and are buried elsewhere. "Three times and dressed in protective clothing, so we have no casualties, but the work is hard and massive," says Shimon. "Our people work with dedication, day and night, around the clock.
If we are used to seven funerals a day, we now perform 14 funerals.
On Saturday night in the last month, the situation is terrible - every half hour a funeral takes place.
It is approaching a catastrophe. "
Corona Department in Safed // Photo: David Cohen / Ginny,
The drop in the age of the deceased is another troubling issue in the current wave.
Or Piron-Sommer, who serves as a project manager at the top of the lineup that brings corona victims to burial on behalf of the Funeral Society Forum, notes that "we are in insane numbers, and now we are also starting to see children die and come to us." "Sorting the children - and they come to us too. It's terrible."
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us
