Best Practices of Highly Infectious Decedent Management Consensus Recommendations From an International Expert Workshop

This article is based on findings from a workshop where subject matter experts discussed how to handle decedents safely for those who may have died of highly infectious diseases, such as Ebola, Lassa fever, SARS-CoV-2, or other coronaviruses. Consensus recommendations focused on defining “highly infectious remains,” scalability and storage, more comprehensive integration of academic mortuary care training programs, infection control and facility considerations, decedent transportation and ultimate disposition considerations, care issues and autopsy, psychological, cultural, and ethical considerations.