Any stories about funerals?

[maxrandb]

I doubt that even funerals could be held during this crisis.

Got to be heart wrenching. I'm not a deeply religious person, but I do know the comfort and closure that comes from family togetherness in grief... and in hope and faith.

This thing seems like you wouldn't even be able to say goodbye to your family, hold them or comfort them.

I imagine we have a finite mortuary and burial place capacity as well.

This will be the next wicket we're going to go through.

[malaise]

1. Just wait for the mass funerals

They already have cooler trucks outside of hospitals waiting for bodies since the funeral parlors won't be able to handle the numbers.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-25/morgue-space-in-virus-hit-nyc-boosted-with-45-cooler-trucks
The city is the expanding epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S., with almost 200 deaths and about 18,000 cases. Officials stress that the measures are so far only precautionary, but the trailers and tents reflect both the feared scale of the epidemic in New York City and the precise lengths to which officials have been planning for the worst -- down to the temperature of the trucks.

Workers have already erected a large tent and installed trailers by the central morgue in lower Manhattan, according to Aja Worthy-Davis, a spokeswoman for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. Now, the city’s five morgues have a capacity of 800 to 900.

“We’re putting them out near major hospitals as a precautionary measure to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” Worthy-Davis said. “We very much hope we don’t need them.”

[zackymilly]

2. There are drive-thru funeral homes where a body can be viewed from your car.

And video-feed funerals.
Not to be 'cold'-hearted, as long as there is refrigeration, you can store bodies, even in refrigerated truck trailers.
As far as burials go, there are places where bodies are buried vertically or on top of each other to save space.
There's also cremation.

[The Genealogist]

3. Yes

A co-worker lost her MIL , not covid related. They were the last funeral to be held before restrictions set in. She told me that they at first limited them to 10 people, then went to virtual funerals. The husband of the deceased apparently has no family of his own and is on lockdown in a nursing home. What a way to have to grieve. My co-worker is a very sweet and thoughtful woman and is trying to get Skype set up so he can at least see a familiar face.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

4. In Saginaw Michigan drive up viewing...

[Midnight Writer]

5. No more than ten people at a time in our area funeral homes.

[harumph]

6. Mobile cremation services - just an idea

[sarisataka]

7. Yes funerals may go on

However due to limitations on the sizes of gatherings many are being postponed.

Mortuary space is limited. There is plenty of capacity to process physical remains and storing those who choose cremation for a funeral at a later date is not difficult. The limitation that will become an issue is for those having a traditional funeral with the body present. Refrigerated space is needed for that and such space will fill up at some point.

Burial is not a problem. Cemeteries have not suddenly filled up. Without many funerals happening there is no need to dig the graves. When funerals begin happening again there will be a point where people may have to wait a few days while cemeteries dig the graves.

It is conceivable that if we near the limits on storage capacity people may be placed in graves and funeral services held at a later time.

[Ace Rothstein]

8. My great-uncle passed away earlier this week, non-COVID-19 related.

He had 5 kids, 20+ grandchildren and a handful of great-grandchildren. They were able to do a wake, one family at a time. Then at the graveside burial only a few could get out, I'm assuming his children, the rest had to stay in their cars. They were Catholic so there will be a service some time in the future.

[Hotler]

9. No funerals, lots of Cat D9's digging trenches folowed by

a lot of bags of lime.

[Windy City Charlie]

10. Where I'm at

Where I'm at, it's mostly private services and no visitations. There are some, though, that will have celebrations of life, events of that sort at a later date when there can be social gatherings again.