With the numbers of people dying growing from coronavirus COVID-19, there are inevitably are more family members grieving. But here’s the issue: they can’t grieve, well at least not like how they used to.
COVID-19 has forced families, funeral directors and loved ones to rethink how funerals are done.
Since nearly every state has issued a “shelter at home” mandate there has been a ban on gatherings greater than mainly 10 people, including funerals. And for many, it seems to be working and flattening the curve of the disease. But an issue happened in South Carolina.
Six South Carolina residents have died of coronavirus a few weeks after attending the same funeral, officials reported. The group-—which includes a married couple-—had all attended the same funeral in Kershaw County held in the first week of March, Sumter County coroner Robbie Baker said. The funeral occurred after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued March 16th guidance to funeral directors, urging them to live-stream services to comply with social-distancing restrictions.
According to the National Funeral Directors website, it states: “at this time, CDC guidance states, ‘There is currently no known risk associated with being in the same room at a funeral or visitation service with the body of someone who died of COVID-19.’ However, the CDC also notes, ‘People should consider not touching the body of someone who has died of COVID-19.’”
So how are people supposed to grieve their family and friends?
Although nothing can replace the hugging, embracing and direct human experience of an in-person service, virtual services are still real and can be fulfilling when you’re trying to say goodbye to your loved ones. I know it’s on a screen, but virtual services can incorporate most of the main elements you’d see in a traditional service.
And even though they may be virtual, experts say services still can…