Losing a loved one is never easy, and COVID-19 is making a difficult time a lot tougher for families and friends of those recently deceased.
Funeral services used to bring hundreds of people together, but President of Mothe (Mott) Funeral Homes Boyd Mothe Jr. says keeping fewer than ten people in a room is a challenge.
“When your family comes to the funeral home to say bye to grandpa, and you have more than ten members in your family who do you tell to not come? Or who do you tell to step out so that you can come in?” says Mothe.
Mothe says following the social distancing order is up to the family, and not every family is abiding by it at funerals, and that funeral homes are no stranger to the emerging lack of PPE.
“We’re going through PPE so fast, we’re consuming them that all funeral homes are in crisis home for their PPE. We’re reusing facemasks daily,” says Mothe.
Funeral homes are still carrying out their function of sometimes being the ones to remove the deceased from homes, even potential COVID positive bodies.
“We try not to touch the furniture, we go in and disinfect the body, we disinfect the nose and mouth, and we cover the face with a disinfectant covering,” says Mothe.
And he says funeral homes can no longer offer the usual empathetic personal touch for families at the scene, they have to offer condolences from at least six feet away, or more if the family is quarantined.
Mothe also warns the virus is causing delays in the usual process for burying bodies, and that’s causing a backlog.
“Because of the virus and because of some families being unable or unwilling to make a decision right away, the hospital capacity is overflowing,” says Mothe. He adds it’s likely at some point both funeral homes and the coroner’s office will also approach capacity.
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