Catching COVID-19 from a dead body is possible, but there’s no proof it’s happened yet
A U.S. Air Force Mortuary funeral specialist demonstrates the proper PPE needed during the embalming process (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Brooke P. Doyle/)Over the weekend, news broke that a forensic medicine professional in Thailand caught COVID-19 from a dead body. But while it’s entirely possible to catch an infectious disease from a deceased person, the truth in this case is likely a little more complicated.“Any body, dead or alive, is potentially infectious,” says Alex Williamson, the chief of autopsy pathology at Northwell Health and a member of the College of American Pathologists’ autopsy committee. “The difference is a dead person cannot cough or sneeze or spit.” Decedents instead carry the virus on their flesh and clothes or in their bodily fluids, which pathologists, medical examiners, and morgue workers often come in contact with in the process of dealing with the bodies.That’s why anyone dealing with the dead takes...