Medical examiner dies after contracting coronavirus from dead body

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PEARL, Miss. (WLBT) - The Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine reports the first confirmed case of a medical examiner dying after contracting the coronavirus from a dead body in Bangkok, Thailand.

This has raised concerns for first responders, coroners and medical examiners.

The State Medical Examiners Office is charged with conducting autopsies, among them COVID-19 cases. Rankin County Coroner David Ruth has had two confirmed cases in the county.

“One I did assist with to just simply make sure that that person was recovered properly and that everybody had the right amount of protection needed for it,” said Ruth.

But are coroners and medical examiners concerned about getting the virus from the deceased?

California Forensic Pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek says the respiratory pathogen can be transmitted by droplets but also through the bodily fluids of a deceased person.

“Not sure that it’s possible that we can get it from the actual deceased but, depending on what they may have touched and who’s in the house with them, that’s the unknown for the coroner,” said the Ruth.

Medical examiners follow the CDC guidelines regarding the collection and submission of postmortem specimens from deceased known or suspected COVID-19 cases.

Ruth follows CDC guidelines when dealing with all infectious diseases. His concern is not having post mortem tests.

Last week, Brandon first responders were sent home and almost put into quarantine for 14 days when a person they came in contact with was suspected of having died from the coronavirus.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we were sent home until we could figure that out. There was no test kit available for that,” added Ruth.

As of Tuesday, there have been 111 deaths from the coronavirus in Mississippi.