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Drive-through funerals are being held in the epicenter of Spain's coronavirus pandemic
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/06/europe/spain-coronavirus-drive-thru-funerals-madrid-intl/index.html
By Scott McLean and Laura Perez Maestro, CNN
Updated 1105 GMT (1905 HKT) April 6, 2020
Madrid, Spain (CNN)
Every fifteen minutes or so, a dark hearse pulls up in front of the crematorium of Madrid's sprawling La Almudena cemetery.
Father Edduar, a Catholic priest dressed for mass, walks out of the building to greet family members who have come to pay their final respects -- by national rule, each group is limited to five or fewer people. The driver opens the trunk to reveal a simple wooden casket. Standing behind the hearse, under a shaded carport, the mourners keep a distance. Some wear masks, or even gloves. Hugs and kisses are an uncommon sight.
From start to finish, the blessings and prayers take barely five minutes. Father Edduar douses the sealed casket with holy water before a pair of staff emerge to load it onto a gurney and roll it inside. Then, it's all over. There is no eulogy, no visitation, no public burial. There's hardly even time for a goodbye.
As the hearse pulls away, another takes its place moments later. The brief ceremonies are almost as constant as the stream of heat escaping from the crematorium's chimney, occasionally turning to dark smoke against the hazy sky.
It is a strange scene, even for one of the largest cemeteries in Western Europe, whose rolling hills of endless headstones have been there through famine, civil war and the Spanish flu.
This is what the public mourning process looks like under Spain's coronavirus state of emergency, which has kept Spaniards homebound, with few exceptions, for three weeks already -- with at least another three still to go.
</snip>
By Scott McLean and Laura Perez Maestro, CNN
Updated 1105 GMT (1905 HKT) April 6, 2020
Madrid, Spain (CNN)
Every fifteen minutes or so, a dark hearse pulls up in front of the crematorium of Madrid's sprawling La Almudena cemetery.
Father Edduar, a Catholic priest dressed for mass, walks out of the building to greet family members who have come to pay their final respects -- by national rule, each group is limited to five or fewer people. The driver opens the trunk to reveal a simple wooden casket. Standing behind the hearse, under a shaded carport, the mourners keep a distance. Some wear masks, or even gloves. Hugs and kisses are an uncommon sight.
From start to finish, the blessings and prayers take barely five minutes. Father Edduar douses the sealed casket with holy water before a pair of staff emerge to load it onto a gurney and roll it inside. Then, it's all over. There is no eulogy, no visitation, no public burial. There's hardly even time for a goodbye.
As the hearse pulls away, another takes its place moments later. The brief ceremonies are almost as constant as the stream of heat escaping from the crematorium's chimney, occasionally turning to dark smoke against the hazy sky.
It is a strange scene, even for one of the largest cemeteries in Western Europe, whose rolling hills of endless headstones have been there through famine, civil war and the Spanish flu.
This is what the public mourning process looks like under Spain's coronavirus state of emergency, which has kept Spaniards homebound, with few exceptions, for three weeks already -- with at least another three still to go.
</snip>
It's beginning to happen here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/04/funeral-home-new-york-city-bodies-coronavirus/
Death without ritual - Inside a funeral home in the nation’s hardest-hit city, the struggle to deal with surging deaths in the coronavirus pandemic
By Stephanie McCrummen
APRIL 4, 2020
<snip>
He and Nick cleared out the backs of their two Dodge vans. They wheeled out four cardboard boxes stamped with the words “Handle with Extreme Care” and loaded them into the back. They belted them into place and tucked the documents under the belts, along with $10 tips for the beleaguered crematory workers and now Joe Jr. was driving across the empty streets of Queens.
He turned onto a two-lane road that ran through two cemeteries, and finally reached the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium, a stately yellow brick building from 1884. Normally, he’d be driving a hearse, followed by a procession of family members who would gather at the chapel inside to say their goodbyes.
Instead, he pulled his Dodge around to a door at the back of the building, wheeled out his two boxes and handed some documents to the two workers at the door, who were arguing.
“Just do your job,” one of them was saying.
“This is a crazy rush,” the other said. “This is not normal. You give me four bodies at a time and expect me to sweep out too? There’s only so much I can do.”
</snip>
Death without ritual - Inside a funeral home in the nation’s hardest-hit city, the struggle to deal with surging deaths in the coronavirus pandemic
By Stephanie McCrummen
APRIL 4, 2020
<snip>
He and Nick cleared out the backs of their two Dodge vans. They wheeled out four cardboard boxes stamped with the words “Handle with Extreme Care” and loaded them into the back. They belted them into place and tucked the documents under the belts, along with $10 tips for the beleaguered crematory workers and now Joe Jr. was driving across the empty streets of Queens.
He turned onto a two-lane road that ran through two cemeteries, and finally reached the Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium, a stately yellow brick building from 1884. Normally, he’d be driving a hearse, followed by a procession of family members who would gather at the chapel inside to say their goodbyes.
Instead, he pulled his Dodge around to a door at the back of the building, wheeled out his two boxes and handed some documents to the two workers at the door, who were arguing.
“Just do your job,” one of them was saying.
“This is a crazy rush,” the other said. “This is not normal. You give me four bodies at a time and expect me to sweep out too? There’s only so much I can do.”
</snip>
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