Mourners rue missing funeral return

At least one mourner has expressed regret about burying his grandmother just a few days ago.

His remorse follows Tuesday’s announcement of the adjustments to the COVID-19 restrictions on burials and funerals.

Burials, which may be held Monday to Friday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., are now allowed to have 30 attendees, including participating officials. The 30-minute timeline remains in force.

Funerals, which have been banned since March 8, may lawfully accommodate a maximum of 30 attendees.

“We had to just put our grandmother in the ground … . We would have liked to say a few words, have all our loved ones come together to bid her farewell one last time,” said Trevor*, referring to the burial last week.

Many others have had to bid farewell to family virtually, as the Government weighed the opposing forces of grief and the public-health risk linked to the coronavirus.

“Not even a chair was provided at my wife’s burial. I know what the rules were, but it was so hard to see that I wasn’t able to give her the send-off that she deserved,” said another mourner.

However, head of the St Richard’s Final Service Funeral Home in St Thomas, Duke Richards, welcomed the new development, though he said it would have little to no effect on his operations.

“It’s basically for the public. Where funeral services are concerned, there isn’t a great impact, but it’s beneficial for the family members because they are the ones who want to be a part of the services,” said Richards.

“The packages remain the same whether you have one person attending or 50.”

Richards said that one of the foreseeable positive spin-offs is that funeral homes may benefit from increased demand for programmes and other paraphernalia.

“With 30 people and funeral services, people may now want programmes, buttons, and so forth, so we may provide a little more support,” he said.