Like other businesses, local funeral homes have had to change due to the protocols in place to stem the spread of COVID-19; protocols such as limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer for any gathering and maintaining social distancing of six feet between people.
“There should not be any big funeral services right now,” said Jeffery Woods of Myricks Funeral Home. To that end, Woods, like other funeral directors in town, is encouraging graveside services only.
“We are not going into churches,” he said.
As for appointments for families to make arrangements for loved ones, Woods is limiting those to no more than five people and public visitations are limited to no more than 10 people present at a time.
“We give those 10 people three to five minutes, then escort them out of the viewing room and allow the next 10 in,” said Woods.
Terry Culpepper of Culpepper Funeral Home has established similar policies.
“Even though we understand it is hard on families, we are having no public visitations and limiting the number of people to 10,” he said. “We have always taken universal precautions even prior to this crisis and will continue to do so.”
Belinda Dotson of Crane-Dotson Funeral Home said her staff has also set precautions.
“We are not having visitations, and we have only 10 people at a funeral. Of course, that number includes funeral home employees, so that limits the amount of family members even more. We are encouraging graveside services with immediate family only,” said Dotson.
Everlina Johnson of Winters Funeral Home said their funeral home staff is also following the recommended guidelines.
“We are only having 10 people or less at a service, and we are allowing two at a time for viewing. We are instructing our customers to have graveside services if at all possible,” she said.
Hunter Jordan of Jordan Funeral Home echoed the same sentiments.
“Families are encouraged not to gather and to have no more than 10 people in an enclosed room. Our families are very understanding and are self-policing,” he said. “We do have a checklist for families, but most are doing everything ahead of time, and we are not having to ask them to do it.”
As for dealing with the deceased, Jordan said his staff is taking the same precautions they always have.
“We take universal precautions like everyone in the medical field, with the added exception of being more careful to limit contact with surfaces as much as possible,” he said. “We are also conscious of going to the place of death and dealing with the exposure element there, just like any licensed funeral director is trained to do.”
Another difference Jordan said he has noticed with the coronavirus crisis is that for the first time, funeral directors are now being recognized as first responders.
“I worked the government disaster morgue after Katrina, and my dad worked it after Camille. A lot of people don’t realize that we respond to disasters just like other first responders do,” Jordan said.
Still, Jordan said, dealing with the deceased is only a small part of his job.
“Most of our services are dealing with the living. We have to be more conscious of things like hugs. This is a small town where everybody knows everyone else, so naturally we want to hug or otherwise offer comfort,” he said. “We are having to be more conscious of that, and the understanding from the public has been overwhelming.”
