Yes, funerals and burials ARE essential

As someone who has lost people close in the past, unrelated to the virus, I hope I’m not alone when I say it is profoundly repulsive that people are trying to ban funerals and burials for those who have passed from the virus.

This is the last time to say goodbye to a parent, child, friend, relative or anyone else you were close to before the casket is closed forever. To give your parent one last hug, hold their hand, if you have the audacity to say these events shouldn’t happen because of social distancing, you either have never lost someone or you are letting the experts think for you. To those experts on this matter, **** and back off. This is a time for the living to make peace with the deceased
That is the point of funerals.

And no, the corpse isn’t going to give you the virus. Everything they have been embalmed with is more prevalent. If Fauci or Cuomo died, I’m sure his family would want to make peace with him before he is laid to rest. Not some so called expert to say, “Nope, you gotta stay six feet away.”

Point is funerals are for these people to keep their hands off or. They have no business telling us what to do with our goodbyes, so again to those people, back off.

 

The corpse won't give you a virus, of course, but the other attendees might, or you might give it to them. That's the point. It is in poor taste to ban this kind of event in particular, I understand that. Doing so treads on some powerful emotions.

 

The solution is simple; keep the corpse on ice until the pandemic passes, then have the funeral/wake. That way you lessen the chances of spreading the virus to the mourners and get to say your final goodbyes.

 

I know its hard, but you might be better off waiting a month or two regardless of the rules for the actual service so people don't need to choose between attending and paying respect and getting or giving this thing to each other. The nature of funerals is that they get a lot of older people.
attending.

I know I don't want to have my loved ones taking that risk for my send-off if they can avoid it by waiting. Please wait until its a little safer. No rush for me. I will be just as dead in June so no need to risk joining me in April.

I am much more upset at the notion that loved ones can't visit the dying, than the dead. That feels wrong on every emotional level to me.

 

This is strange to me because I don’t want a wake or funeral for me. While I would like some get together to make are people celebrate life, I’d rather be cremated and my ashes scattered about privately. I can understand the need for mourning but to the point you would want others to get sick? That is strange to me.

 

What is true for me isn't true for others. But from my side, I HATE funerals. It is bad enough dealing with the death of a loved one. But then to have to go through agony of the funeral proceedings is just torture. I freaking HATE it! They are dead and gone. I don't need to say goodbye to a corpse.

I would be fine if funerals went out of fashion altogether. God, when my father died I knew my mother would want me to go see him with her. I didn't have the heart to say no. So great, now my most vivid memory is him lying dead in a casket. Fck. I didn't go to see my mother when she died.

 

Nobody is "trying to ban funerals". They are impacted by the general social distancing policies just like everything else, including the similarly controversial and difficult things like routine religious services, visiting terminal patients in hospital or vulnerable relatives in their homes.

Clearly a gathering of people like a traditional funeral or wake would pose a significant risk of cross infection and so it is one of the many things that must be done differently, however difficult that might be. There will be options to mitigate the problem and find ways for grieving relatives to find the kind of closure a funeral can bring but they're never going to be perfect. That is the reality we all just have to face at the moment.

 

It's wrong on both levels. It just goes to show everything is way overblown. Wear PPE to see the dying in hospitals. Whomever is setting these policies obviously has never lost a loved one themselves. The deceased can't transmit the virus because the virus requires a living organism to transit to. ;If people are that concerned, wear a mask. It's going to hurt a lot more trying to deal with the grief if you try to postpone making peace with the deceased.