Newsbrief: How people are mourning now
by Alena Masterson
As the death toll rises everyday bodies of the deceased begin to pile up and change the way people can bury their loved ones.
Morgues, mortuaries, and funeral homes both in the U.S. and abroad are having to make big changes and pull every resource in order to help according to NBC New York. In the U.S., a medical distributor called Med Alliance Group has been receive hundreds of calls to send reirrigated trailers in order to store the bodies.
“They’re coming from all over: From hospitals, health systems, coroner’s offices, VA facilities, county and state health departments, state emergency departments and funeral homes,” said Christie Penzol, a spokeswoman for Med Alliance. In Spain they had to turn a Madrid ice rink into a makeshift morgue because their city morgue no longer had space and protective gear.
Even with this increase USA Today has reported that nationwide funeral directors, medical examiners, etc. have been preparing for something like this.
(Photo: National Public Radio)
“Our biggest concern right now is the lack of available equipment. It’s not a matter of not knowing how to handle the decedent, it’s a matter of having the equipment to do it properly” said Gary Watts, president of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.
Along with storing the bodies, many people have to adapt to new ways of performing rituals for the deceased. All over the world, religious rituals for the dead have had to been delayed, changed, or skipped all together according to National Public Radio.
In the U.S., restrictions are set for funeral gatherings, while places like Pakistan have made it mandatory that the Islamic body washing ritual must be done in protective gear. In Israel, glass cases are being built for people to see the bodies and say their last goodbyes to their loved ones. People are also now holding virtual Shivas, which are usually weeklong gathering of mourning for families. In China they are reserving time slots for families to come pick up the ashes and bury them.
