As coronavirus disperses gatherings, even SC funerals are being disrupted

It’s old news that coronavirus has changed the way people throughout the world live their lives.

But the pandemic is also changing how people commemorate their dead.

Throughout the country, public health officials have been calling for “social distancing” to help prevent the spread of disease. On Monday, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster restricted group gatherings of three or more people. Social distancing has led to countless events, concerts, sports games and more being canceled or rescheduled, but one thing that can’t be postponed, changed or moved is funerals.

Coronavirus disrupting funerals is just another example of how the pandemic has not only changed daily life, but also how it has disrupted basic human experiences such as how we handle the loss of a loved one.

Leevy’s Funeral Home, on Taylor Street in downtown Columbia, has stopped announcing funerals online, stopped putting chairs out during funerals to promote social distancing, ending night visitations, started limiting the number of people at a funeral, ending post-funeral meals and switching to graveside services, said Chris Leevy, the president and managing director of Leevy’s Funeral Homes.

That means some of those who are close to the person being laid to rest are dissuaded from attending funerals for family or friends, Leevy said.

“When it comes to funerals, it’s very hard to tell someone to stay away from their mother’s funeral or their grandmother’s funeral,” Leevy said.

Funerals for military veterans have also been affected, said Gene Linxwiler, the director of Fort Jackson National Cemetery. When a veteran is buried at Fort Jackson’s cemetery, up to 10 people are allowed to witness the interment “from a distance,” Linxwiler said.

Last week, the Veterans Affairs office — which runs Fort Jackson National Cemetery — said it would be suspending military honors for veterans to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The cemetery will remain open to allow people to visit the graves of loved ones, Linxweiler said.

Amid social distancing, officials are trying to conduct veteran funerals “in as dignified a manner as we possibly can,” Linxweiler said.

Though Leevy’s Funeral Home has changed its policies to adapt to coronavirus, people have been doing a good job of “policing themselves,” Leevy said.

“In spite of grief and loss, we don’t want people to spread the virus, because that ultimately leads to more death,” Leevy said.

One way people have been adapting to death in the time of coronavirus has been to hold small, private funerals and then hold a larger memorial service later, said David Tompkins of Bostick Tompkins Funeral Home.

But policies can change as quickly as the latest Department of Health and Environmental Control update. Employees of two funeral homes who spoke with The State said their plans are changing so quickly to adapt with the news they didn’t want to have their policies published in the paper and then have them be outdated by the time people read them.

Asking the family of someone who just died to change the ceremony is difficult, but Tompkins said he has received no pushback from asking families to alter ceremonies because of coronavirus.

“They all understand,” Tompkins said.

This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 12:13 PM.